All three bodies were found at the bottom of 200ft cliffs

Mother of three daughters Anne Harris, 29, died when she fell from 200ft cliffs at Sidmouth, together with Jamie Hague, 19, and Shaun Sheppard, 17.

The three were informal patients at the Cedars Unit at Wonford House in Exeter, run by Devon Partnership NHS Trust.

The inquest, at County Hall in Exeter, is expected to last several weeks.

The three patients left the Cedars Unit without informing staff on 12 June, 2002.

The inquest heard claims drugs were sold through unit windows

Coroner Elizabeth Earland said inquiries after they went missing suggested they had gone to the cliffs at Salcombe Hill to carry out a suicide pact.

Police found them and made unsuccessful attempts to talk them down.

The inquest was told by Mrs Harris's husband, Michael, from Tiverton, that the Cedars unit was "run like a hotel" and there was "no urgency about staff procedures".

He said his wife was admitted to the unit in January 2002 and the following month she escaped and made a suicide attempt at a sports centre.

Three days later she threatened to jump off a cliff with two of their children - and five days after that the unit told him she had escaped again.

'Drugs sold'

Mr Harris said his wife told him that on 5 June she had gone to the cliffs at Sidmouth alone with the intention of committing suicide.

He said she told him she "could not jump alone". She was talked down by a police officer and taken to hospital.

He said she talked of taking drugs and drinking with other patients, and said "drugs were sold through the window of the ward at night".

Asked by the coroner whether his wife had told him where she would kill herself, he said: "She looked on the internet at different sites around Devon."

'Extreme drunkenness'

All three patients died from multiple injuries and had multiple self-harm superficial wounds to their arms, said a report to the inquest by pathologist Alan Anscombe.

Forensic scientist Andrew McKinnon said in a statement that analysis of the blood of Mr Hague, from Cullompton, showed blood alcohol levels associated with "extreme drunkenness".

Mr Sheppard, from Upton Pyne, Devon, had a blood alcohol level "verging on drunkenness", while Mrs Harris had a small amount of alcohol in her blood.

After the deaths, a six-month investigation into care and conditions at the unit run by the Devon Partnership NHS Trust was carried out and 40 recommendations implemented.