A WOMAN killed herself and her young son after battling mental health issues triggered by the return of her estranged husband, an inquest heard.

Rubina Khan, 43, of Oatlands Drive, Slough, killed herself and ten-year-old son, Amaar, after they were hit by a high-speed train at Slough Station, September 23, 2014.

An inquest held on Tuesday heard how Mrs Khan, a mother of three, had been battling a number of personal issues that had been triggered by the unexpected return of her estranged husband, Jahinger Khan, whom she had been separated from for about six years.

In 2014 Mr Khan approached her family and expressed his desire to reconcile with Mrs Khan and their three children - and that he would travel back to Britain from Pakistan to be with them. But the inquest heard this instigated a downward spiral of depression and anxiety in Mrs Khan.

The testimony of a friend of Mrs Khan read: "She did not want to confront him, and stayed away from her house."

She was given antidepressants by her GP and referred to mental health services. However, her troubles continued to deepen and developed into self harm. She also expressed fear that her worsening mental state would lead to social services taking her children.

Her troubles culminated in an episode whereby Mrs Khan locked herself in a room and attempted to throttle herself with a telephone cord. Her family alerted mental health services, and she voluntarily agreed to be treated at Prospect Park Hospital in Reading, in late July.

At Prospect Park doctors said that Mrs Khan's mental health improved significantly.

Doctors said she denied the extent of the self harm, saying much of it was 'play-acting', and that she insisted she was not suicidal, assuring doctors that she cared deeply for her children and that Islam forbade suicide.

When she was discharged in early August, doctors rated her threat to her children and to herself as low.

Mrs Khan did indeed begin living with her husband again, and was visited for follow ups by mental health services, in which her condition seemed to have improved and reported no further incidents of self harm.

On the day of her suicide, Mrs Khan took her son to Slough station, meeting her brother along the way. Upon being questioned by him, she said she had a dentist appointment in London and that her son had a day off school, which her brother accepted.

Her brother's account said: "Rubina was smiley and happy. There was nothing she said that gave me any concerns."

She then purchased a cheap ticket to Windsor, and moved to a platform of Slough station. Testimony from the train driver recounted that Mrs Khan held her son tightly by the platform edge, and spoke to him briefly, before the incident.

The inquest continues.