A teenage schoolgirl from Plymouth hanged herself in a tragic experiment that went wrong  as she tried to feel the sensation of being reborn.

Sian Jones was discovered by her mother and sister hanging from the front door of their flat by a red dog lead one evening in June.

An inquest today heard that the 13 year old had suffered bullying issues at school - but detectives who investigated her death said they were a 'red herring' and did not play a part in her death.

Sian was a Goth or Emo who occasionally dressed in black clothes and researched websites about the act of fainting - where a person loses consciousness and feels the sensation of being reborn into a world without the old problems.

A coroner ruled that Sian, who was born in Truro, Cornwall, had been experimenting on the night she hanged herself and that it was a tragic accident.

Her housewife mother Sarah Jones, 34, and sister Adele, 15, discovered her lifeless body on the landing by the front door of their flat on The Hoe in Plymouth.

The inquest in Plymouth heard that Sian had encountered some problems with other girls at her school, the Stoke Damerel Community College in the city.

Close family friend Ian Wilson, who attended on behalf of the family, said they had had concerns about the bullying issues.

He said:"Sian was assaulted and under school rules if the parents request it, the police should be contacted to deal with the investigation."

He claimed that request was made but the police were not asked to investigate the attack.

He went on:"A couple of weeks later Sian sent an e mail to school to say she was unhappy and she was being bullied."

But he said the family was not informed that Sian was having these problems.

Mr Wilson said:"There are still issues involving bullying. Even after her death certain personalities made comments via Facebook that were threatening and derogatory."

But acting Inspector Barry Walter told the coroner that he had looked at her Facebook, MSN and other accounts as well as diaries and spoke to fellow pupils and her friends.

He said Sian could probably be described as "a Goth or Emo and living her lifestyle around that."

"She was very well liked and had a good group of friends.

"We investigated some concerns made that Sian was subject to some bullying."

He said the school dealt with those problems approrpiately and her friends had expected to see her at school.

The detective said Sian's mother and sister were closer and that she missed her natural father.

He added:"She had been researching fainting. Fainting is like a suicide act.

"We believe she may have trying to experience what she had seen and it went tragicaly wrong."

He said Stoke Damerel was a well run school and teachers acted as confidantes of pupils with problems like bullying.

But he said e mails did reveal that Sian did say she was 'being bullied and had fallen out with a couple of girls and there was a bit of name calling".

However on the day before her death, Sian said it was 'all sorted out'.

Coroner Ian Arrow recorded an accidental death verdict saying: "She had the intention of fainting and was experimenting wiht that dog lead.

"It is an acceptable explanation of why it was around her neck in those circumstances.

"It must have been a very great shock for all of you when you returned home that night."

Afterwards Det Insp Walter said fainting was part of the Goth beliefs and that Sian had accessed various websites about it.

"There are a number of ways and one is the artery in the neck. But the sites say be careful doing it.

"Fainting is the sensation of being reborn. Sian was a happy little girl and on that night she had put a new photo on Facebook and filmed herself on her phone dancing.

"She had some issues but the bullying issues had been done and dusted and we believe they were a red herring.

"It was an experiment that went wrong. She had plenty of time to do it but she did it just before her mum came back home in case something went wrong."

Earlier her mum Sarah said Sian was someone who liked playing practical jokes.

"That's what she was about  humour, humour, humour. There was nothing horrible about her, she loved everything. There were so many lovely things about her."

She said she had a number of clothing trends including being a Goth or other days like a skateboarder.