Teenager Isabel Taylor, who was found hanged in her bedroom, thought the world would end in 2012, an inquest heard yesterday.

The inquest was told that the animal loving 16-year-old, who was described as a model student, had links investigating the global catastrophy on her computer.

Miss Taylor, of Elley Green, Neston, near Corsham, had also investigated on her computer how many paracetamol tablets it would take to overdose.

Her parents said after the hearing they would never get over the devastating loss.

Miss Taylor, a Wiltshire College Lackham student, was found hanged in her room by her mother, Ingrid, at their home at 3.15pm, on September 24 last year.

During an inquest at Trowbridge Town Hall, assistant deputy Wiltshire Coroner Claire Balsyz ruled that Miss Taylor had taken her own life while the balance of her mind was disturbed.

The inquest heard that Miss Taylor, who had converted to Buddhism in the spring of 2011, had web links to internet pages that said the world would end from a nuclear reactor meltdown in 2012 as well as to links on religious reincarnation and overdosing. Mr Taylor told the inquest: “We were aware of the 2012 issue.

“As you would, in conversation around the dinner table, she would mention it.

“We would take it on board and say we didn’t think that was going to happen Isabel, and try to make light of it and move conversation onwards.”

Mrs Taylor said in her statement to the inquest: “She talked us us about her beliefs the world was going to end in 2012. We did not believe that.”

The former Corsham School pupil had started studying an animal science and management course at Lackham.

In statements read by the coroner, friends and family said that Isabel, a vegan, was a happy young girl.

They said she was not being bullied and was a passionate animal rights campaigner who ran ran a guinea pig sanctuary with a friend.

Miss Taylor was declared dead at 3.30pm on September 24, from compression of the neck.

Her mother had gone to see her before going out for a same clothes from the last time they had seen her, on the evening of Friday, September 23.

Miss Taylor had spent much of the night on the family computer.

The coroner read a statement from Miss Taylor’s GP, which said: “There was no hint of Isabel suffering depression or psychological issues in her medical records.”

The inquest heard that Miss Taylor, who was not known to excessively drink or take drugs, had no drugs in her system and had 56 micrograms per 100 millilitres of alcohol in their blood. This was described as a moderate amount.

In their statement, Mr and Mrs Taylor, said: “The simple and perfect world she sought, where all living things would be treated with comparison and equality, was never going to materialise. Unfortunately the future in her eyes must have seemed very bleak.”