A dad has told an inquest about the moment he came across a police cordon while out walking his dog, unaware it was there because his daughter had taken her life in nearby woods.
Nicole Guest was just 17-years-old when she was found dead in woodland on Ashton Heath in Wigan in July.
An inquest into the teenager's death on Tuesday heard that Nicole left her Ashton-in-Makerfield home in the early hours of July 19 after her family had gone to bed.
Police later discovered she had sent messages to friends, saying she was going out for a walk because she was upset and wanted to clear her head.
Concerned about her being out so late, they urged her to go home.
She replied claiming she'd gone home, but tragically, she had actually stayed in the woods and later took her own life.
Nicole was discovered by a dog walker, who raised the alarm shortly before 6am.
Police and medics gave her first aid, but Nicole had sadly already died.
A short time later, Nicole's father Mark Guest took his dog out for a walk, and discovered he couldn't go on the heath because it was cordoned off by police.
Believing Nicole was at home in bed, he was unaware that she was involved until the family were informed by police later that morning.
The Bolton Coroner's Court hearing was told that Nicole had a long history of challenging behaviour, issues with her confidence, and school absences, but had been turning things around and was starting to 'blossom' in the months before her tragic death.
The hearing heard that in the years before she died, Nicole would often shut herself away in her bedroom and refused to engage with staff from a number of agencies which offered her support.
This included pastoral care services at her school, Children's Services, Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMS) and Wigan's Start Well support service.
Nicole's mum Sandra told the hearing that those who tried to help Nicole were 'very patient' with her and 'did a good job'.
Giving evidence, her father told the hearing: "She didn't want to engage with them.
"She had a number of agencies come round over the years, a number of people tried to engage with her, but there was no one she'd open up to. She wouldn't engage.
"She was up or down, black or white."
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Nicole eventually started talking to her support worker from Start Well, and went on to be able to sit some of her exams at home and at school.
With encouragement from employment and skills service Aspiring Futures, Nicole then secured a place at college, and according to her dad had made friends there and was starting to grow in confidence.
Her mum told the hearing: "She was blossoming, it's the only way I can describe it."
The night before she died, Nicole asked her dad to text her support worker from Start Well, so she could arrange to speak to her, which he did.
He asked Nicole if there was anything she wanted to talk about, but she replied that she wanted to speak to the support worker.
Mr Guest added: "She was her normal self. She was fine, there was no indication of a low mood."
When police examined Nicole's laptop, iPad and phone following her death, they found no evidence to suggest that she was planning to harm herself.
They found that she had been talking to her friends about her feelings and had been making plans for the future, including her 18th birthday.
Police coroner's officer Marcheta Hogan said: "It was very clear from conversations on there that Nicole had decided to seek help for her anxieties.
"She was looking a lot brighter, she was making plans for the future".
Nicole went to her GP with her mum on July 17 about an unrelated health matter, but did not mention anything about her state of mind to the doctor during the visit.
But she had written a note in her phone in which she stated that she was going to tell her mum and her GP about 'the depression stuff' and that she wanted to get better.
She had also made plans to go shopping with a friend on the morning of July 19, and spent time the night before cleaning her room to earn pocket money for the trip.
Tests found there were no drugs or alcohol in Nicole's system and police ruled out any suspicious circumstances.
Her cause of death was listed as hanging.
Recording a conclusion of suicide, coroner Catherine Cundy said she was satisfied that Nicole had intended to take her own life.
She added: "It is a real tragedy that Nicole should have died at such a young age when so many people cared about her."
Following the hearing, Nicole's mum described her daughter as 'beautiful'.
After her death, Nicole's friends raised more than £2,500 in her memory, which her family chose to donate to the suicide prevention charity Papyrus.
