A former RAF electrician was found dead on the day of her mother's birthday.

Grandmother Jacqueline 'Jackie' Levy, 61, left a note which read: "Do not mourn for me, I will be happy at last," having taken a fatal overdose inside her Maidstone flat.

Her sisters Denise Garwood and Sally-Anne Collins said the mother-of-two's days in the RAF were "the happiest of her life".

They added: "She was loved and is sadly missed.

"It's unbelievable that she felt so low, that she felt she had to take that route. I'm just sad we weren't with her."

The grandmother of four was found dead three days after her own birthday, and on the birthday of her late mother.

Jacqueline's younger sisters say the found birthday cards written out for one of her grandchildren inside her flat in Knowlton Gardens, Maidstone.

The retired shop assistant was the oldest of four sisters born in Gillingham, growing up she spent time in Australia but the family soon return to Kent.

She joined the RAF at 17 and was stationed at Germany and Ascension Island during the Falklands War.

It was during her service that she met her first husband and the father of her two children, Shane and Gemma.

The inquest heard the couple divorced and she married again. In 2004 she attempted to take her own life but survived.

She divorced for a second time and returned to Kent from Lincolnshire, shortly after the death of her mother in 2016.

Ms Levy, who had four grandchildren, moved in with childhood friend Steve Sandys, who was at Monday's inquest.

He said: "Me and Jacqueline knew each other since we were 13. A few years ago she put all of her things in a car, left her husband and I said she could stay with me.

"When she was with me there was no sign of depression, she had a new lease of life."

After six months of living with Mr Sandys in Gillingham, she moved to Maidstone.

Assistant coroner Joanne Andrews read evidence stating Jacqueline had recent surgery on her right shoulder, and was living with pain across her body.

She had been prescribed drugs to treat a plethora of medical issues and fatal levels of two of those drugs were found in her system.

Concluding the inquest, Ms Andrews ruled Jacqueline Levy died as a result of suicide.

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