A PASSIONATE teacher from Bovey Tracey killed herself after becoming overwhelmed with her workload, 12 hours days and the financial impact of redundancy, an inquest heard.

Head of PE Kelly Luscombe hanged herself at her family home as her long term partner James Lister and their three-year-old son were out one Sunday morning.

Mr Lister told the hearing the 39-year-old teacher at Plymouth High School for Girls was under ‘immense pressure and there was no recognition of her well being’.

He said she had an ‘overwhelming workload’ with 12 hour days working into the night with marking and preparing for school for which she was paid no extra and was suffering with fatigue.

He said: ‘She was under immense pressure which was not recognised on her well being.

‘She put pupils first, she had no interest in the management chain. Her real passion was for teaching. She loved it, she did it not for money but for pride.’

But the school had budgetary constraints and the business restructuring could have led to teachers being laid off so Kelly volunteered for redundancy.

Mr Lister said Kelly felt there were financial constraints and lack of resources which meant less extra curricular activities and the quality of teaching would be affected.

‘Kelly had fallen out of love with the school,’ he said.

He said keen sportswoman Kelly was a ‘loving caring person who gave too much, a can do person who found it hard to say no’ adding ‘she would drain her battery for others’.

‘No one has a bad word to say about her, she was loved by all,’ he told the inquest at Plymouth Coroner's Court.

Kelly, of Southbrook Road, Bovey Tracey, suffered post natal depression and needed in patient treatment and later suffered three miscarriages, her GP said.

The school's headteacher Simon Underdown said they adjusted work for her, going down to two days a week ‘to fit her life choices’ with her own young child.

She was found hanged at her home by Mr Lister in February 2025 and died in Torbay hospital three days later from hypoxic brain injury caused by asphyxia and depression.

Her organs were donated before her life support was withdrawn.

Assistant Devon coroner Stephen Covell said Kelly suffered with bouts of depression from 2013 which could happen for a short time just once a year but she could continue her job.

He said when she died she may have been in the middle of a bout of depression and her low mood was intensified by a number of stress factors.

He said she had put in for redundancy but had not at that stage been selected for it but it may have played on her low mood on leaving a 'school she loved’.

He recorded a suicide conclusion.

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