An inquest is to begin into the death of a 16-year-old disabled girl who was found hanged in her room in a Suffolk care home.

Rebecca Watkins, from Braintree, was found in her room in Evergreen Children’s Home, Bury Road, Brandon, on June 16, 2009.

Emergency services were called to the address and she was taken to West Suffolk Hospital where she died the next day.

The full inquest will start at 10am on Tuesday at The Farmer’s Club, 10 Northgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, and is expected to last a week.

A Serious Case Review carried out by the Essex Safeguarding Children Board revealed the 16-year-old, who had cerebral palsy and learning difficulties, had suffered years of neglect and abuse at her parental home.

The review stated that she should never have been moved to the home and that social services in Essex had also failed to inform the Suffolk authorities of her new placement.