A former personal assistant to the Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone suffered from manic depression and took her own life a coroner said last week.

June Norris, who lived in Bowden Hill, Newton Abbot, used to work for Mr Ecclestone in the 1970s when he had a business importing Ferraris and Lamborghinis in Bexley Heath, Kent.

In addition to being his assistant, Miss Norris would also deliver the high performance vehicles to wealthy and high profile clients.

But for many years she was treated for mental illness.

Last Thursday her partner of almost 40 years, Ian Cracknell, told Torbay and South Devon coroner Ian Arrow that since coming under the care of the Laurels mental health team in Newton Abbot, Miss Norris, 61, had been stable.

He said as a result of the medication prescribed by the team the state of his partners health was easy to establish.

I could detect anything different with June just from her voice, high or low, he told the court.

Thats why it came as such a shock to me when it happened.

Mr Cracknell said he was often away from the couples home to look after his elderly mother.

He would call Miss Norris every day at 9.45pm and she would call him at 9.45am.

On Saturday, February 21, Mr Cracknell had made his evening call and said his partner had sounded great, talking about having a roast meal together the following weekend.

The next morning, however, Miss Norris failed to make her regular call and so Mr Cracknell became concerned.

The police were alerted and, shortly after 2pm, Miss Norris was found dead in her lounge.

Close by were packets of medication, tablets and a handwritten note, the contents of which were not made public.

Toxicology results obtained from a post mortem showed Miss Norris had lethal levels of pain killers in her body.

Mr Cracknell suggested Miss Norris might have been worried that a painful tumour which had been removed from her pelvis two years ago might be returning. She had told him recently: Im not going through that again.

Summing up, Mr Arrow said: I am satisfied she was an intelligent lady and knew what she was doing when she took those drugs. She intended to take her own life and I record that her death was self-inflicted.