A woman who was escorted to hospital by the police for a mental health assessment was found dead outside her home hours later, an inquest has heard.

Delvine Sweeten was found unresponsive in the courtyard of her flat in Great Yarmouth in January this year.

Despite the efforts of paramedics to perform CPR, she died at the scene at the age of 43.

An inquest into her death concluded on Tuesday.

The court heard Miss Sweeten had a long history of mental ill health and substance abuse and had sporadically engaged with support services for several years.

The night before her death, she had phoned the police threatening to harm herself, telling call handlers she was fearing for her own safety.

Officers attended her home and with her agreement, escorted her to the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston for a mental health assessment.

However, she then declined the assessment and left the hospital unaccompanied at 7.45am on January 14, the day of her death.

The court heard that later that day she was witnessed by a number of people sitting in the courtyard of her flat in Kent Square.

At one point, a neighbour had asked about her welfare, but she told him to "f***off".

Some time later the same neighbour passed again to find her unresponsive and flagged down a police car. 

Paramedics were called and CPR performed, but she could not be saved.

A friend of Miss Sweeten told the court she had visited her earlier that day and asked to borrow makeup. At the time, Miss Sweeten said she had "taken a sh**load of pills".

Samantha Goward, area coroner for Norfolk, concluded she had died a drug-related death.

She said: "She had talked about wanting to make improvements in her life and this suggests that this was her relapsing into her known difficulties."