A PRISON officer killed herself after being sacked for watching a Rugby World Cup match while on sick leave, an inquest heard.

Janet Norridge, 34, was spotted in the crowd and was reported by one of her colleagues to the prison governors.

After being suspended from work and losing an appeal, she was found hanging at her Newport home on April 6, 2012.

The inquest at Newport Coroner's Court heard Ms Norridge's grieving parents took the prison authorities to an employment tribunal after feeling their daughter was unfairly dismissed and won.

Gwent Coroner David Bowen will now write to the director of Her Majesty's Prison Service demanding a review of the way officers are treated during disciplinary proceedings.

Ambitious and "highly capable", Ms Norridge dreamed of becoming a prison governor but was hit by a health scare while working at Cardiff jail.

A relative died of bowel cancer and Ms Norridge tested positive for a gene which gave her an 80 per cent chance of also getting the disease.

The inquest was told she went to the doctor and was given three weeks off work to come to terms with the shock.

But Ms Norridge went out with friends to see a live TV screening at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff of a match being played in the 2011 Rugby World Cup staged in New Zealand.

Her friend Rebecca Rolls told the hearing: "One of her colleagues saw her there and reported her to the prison.

"She was interviewed by her employers who charged her with misconduct.

"This destroyed Janet. She was so proud of her job and her profession."

The inquest heard Ms Norridge became suicidal after losing her job and was found hanging in the cellar of her flat after a night out with friends.

Her mother Joanne Norridge said: "She had sorted out her personal effects and we found forms she had started to fill in to take the prison service to an employment tribunal.

"My husband and I, as her next of kin, decided to fight the matter on her behalf.

"My daughter was right in her feeling that she was unfairly dismissed."

Mrs Norridge added: "She had ambitions to be a senior prison officer and her goal was to work her way up to be governor.

"She was highly capable and intelligent, she didn't want anything to hamper her promotion prospects."

An employment tribunal in London two years later found in favour of Mrs Norridge and her husband John because the prison authorities had made an error in law by sacking their daughter.

Gwent Coroner David Bowen said: "The tribunal ruled her dismissal was unfair however at the time of her death that ruling was in the future and not known to her.

"She felt she had been unfairly dismissed - that was the matter that playing on her mind."

The inquest heard Ms Norridge set up a national charity after being diagnosed with Lynch Syndrome, which makes them prone to a variety of cancers.

A verdict of suicide was recorded.