Jenna Darnley, 15, was discovered hanged by her distraught mum Angela at their home in Grimsargh at 3.30am on Friday.

The Longridge High School pupil was declared dead at the scene by paramedics.

Her parents Angela, 42, and Bill, 39, are trying to find answers as to why their daughter – a girl they described as "happy and popular" – would end her young life.

Mum Angela said: "We just do not have an answer – we have no idea why."

Jenna – who was due to sit her GCSEs in the next few weeks – had been out with friends when she arrived back at the family home in The Hills at just after 11pm on Thursday.

Mrs Darnley said: "She had been out with her friends but she arrived home cheerful and happy and went straight to her room. I said goodnight to her at approximately 11.15pm and at the time she appeared her normal happy self.

"I woke up at 3.30am – I got up to go for a drink and noticed Jenna's bedroom door was open and I realised she was not in bed.

"I came down to look for her and that's when I found her."

Mr Darnley said: "We just cannot understand, she was pretty normal, cheerful and happy. She came home when she was meant to and she was not late.

"People think we must have fallen out but there was no falling out – we had been getting on.

"If we could have just seen a trigger, but there was nothing."

A special assembly was held on Friday at Longridge High where pupils in her year group, Year 11, were told of her death.

Many of the pupils were left distraught by the news and sent home.

Tributes have continued to pour in for Jenna with many friends flooding her Facebook and Bebo pages with messages.

In an emotional online post, 18-year-old sister Samii said: "I am going to make you so proud, and everything I ever do is going to be for you.

"I know you are now with the angels, you are my only angel – I miss you so so much.

"I will never know why this has happened but I know that whatever it was, it isn't bothering you any more and that you are in peace.

"I will look after mum and dad and give them my love from both me and you every day."

One of her friends on Facebook was Lostock Hall man Aaron Emery, 23, who died two days after an alleged attack outside Brown's nightclub in Preston on April 19.

Her parents have refuted claims in a national newspaper that she had been out with Mr Emery on the night of the alleged assault and had been left distraught by his death.

Mrs Darnley, a team leader at Lancashire County Council, said: "Jenna lived life to the full – she sailed through.

"Everybody she met loved her and she made everybody laugh.

"She had a good sense of humour and was a pretty, outgoing, girl with everything to live for.

"Her friends were her life, she had always been with her friends and she always seemed to make more and more friends.

"She just lived day-to-day, she was young and free."

Police are not treating Jenna's death as suspicious.

A file has been passed to the coroner and a post mortem is expected to take place this week.

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