A PROSTITUTE threw herself to her death from a Basingstoke flat after becoming depressed about her appearance following cosmetic surgery, an inquest heard.

San Wai Wong, originally from Macau, China, became involved in organised prostitution after she entered Britain in 2006 by giving false details to immigration services.

The inquest at Alton Magistrates' Court heard that the Crown Heights flat, from where she jumped to her death, was being used as a brothel.

The alarm was raised on the morning of February 10, when the body of 45-year-old Miss Wong was discovered by two women on the balcony of their flat, five floors below where she lived.

The inquest heard that just three weeks before her death, Miss Wong had undergone cosmetic surgery to make her eyes appear more European.

Superintendent Paul Barton, chief investigating officer in the case, told the inquest Miss Wong had paid £1,600 in cash for the procedure at a Birmingham clinic, but was unhappy with the outcome.

He said she told her family: “She felt she was ugly and was embarrassed by her appearance as a result of this surgery.”

Miss Wong, of no fixed address, travelled to Basingstoke from London the night before she died. She had been to the Crown Heights flat previously, and called Mr Bin Yang, who lived there, on February 9, saying she had nowhere else to go.

Mr Yang told the inquest that Miss Wong fell asleep in his bed – he was sleeping on the sofa in the lounge – but she asked at 3am if the two could swap, saying she had to make an early start in the morning, and did not want to disturb him.

Later that morning, at around 7am, Mr Yang woke and noticed the door to the lounge was closed.

After realising that Miss Wong was not in the room or the kitchen, he spotted a stool on the balcony which had been moved. He went out on the balcony and saw a body below.

Speaking through an interpreter, he told the inquest: “There was a body down below and blood on the ground.

“All of a sudden I felt as if icy water was running through me. I did not dare to have a second look.”

He said he woke another woman, Qi Qi Wang, who was in the other bedroom, and the pair gathered up their possessions and fled.

Supt Barton told North East Hampshire coroner Andrew Bradley that there is an ongoing investigation in relation to the “criminality that was going on” at the flat. He said the investigation was aiming to “ensure that men and women are not exploited further.” He added there was no evidence of any third party involvement in the death of Miss Wong.

Recording a verdict of suicide, Mr Bradley described the case as “incredibly sad”.

He said: “It is significant that she had eye surgery in January, and particularly that she was unhappy with the outcome.

“She was far more deeply affected by the surgery than one could possibly appreciate. I have no doubt that the death is at her own hand.”