A CORONER found yesterday that a woman who was hit by a lorry after being charged the bedroom tax did commit suicide.

The cruel policy came under fire when 52-year-old Stephanie Bottrill walked to her death on a nearby motorway on the morning of May 4 last year.

Birmingham and Solihull coroner Zafar Siddique concluded that “she intended to take her own life” after hearing from Ms Bottrill’s former GP.

The former postal worker, who lived alone in a three-bed terrace home, agreed to see her GP the day before her death after her family expressed concern.

And Dr Bindu Nair told the court she was “still coming to terms about whether to move or have to pay extra to stay in her current property.

“She informed me she had called her children in the early hours of May 3 2013, saying she couldn’t cope with the stress and wanted to end it all, and had written a note planning to jump off a bridge,” the GP said in his statement to the coroner.

“She expressed unhappiness at being pushed by the housing department to make a decision in half an hour, in reference to being made to move into a smaller property.”

He added that Ms Bottrill was “happy to move but it was the way in which she was forced to make a decision” which had caused her “considerable anxiety and stress.”

A Solihull council spokesman said there was “never a requirement for Ms Bottrill to move.”

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said it was “a tragic case and our sympathies are with Mrs Bottrill’s family.”