TEENAGERS across Swindon will be lighting candles in memory of 16-year-old Chelsea May Smith – who died a year ago today.

The vivacious teenager committed suicide at her Upper Stratton home after laying out her favourite outfit and writing letters to friends and family.

Mum Trudy, 45, is still waiting for the inquest into her death to be held in the hope that it will bring her some peace.

She said: “It has been such a tough year but I think I’m finally coming to terms with the fact that she’s gone.

“If anything the inquest will just be an official end to this terrible year.”

A year on, friends of the talented dancer are still inundating her social networking webpage on Bebo – which has been kept running by her mother, brother Ben and sister Kristy – with scores of loving messages and tributes.

One pal wrote: “It’s nearly a year and all I want is for you to ring me and ask to come round. I love you so much Chels.”

For Kristy, 22, Christmas was the hardest time to be without Chelsea.

On a memorial Bebo page called ChelseaRip she wrote: “Nearly bought you a Christmas present. Had to think twice. I wish you were here.”

Chelsea’s ashes were buried in the garden of her home, where friends still frequently visit.

Her bedroom, where her body was discovered , remains the way she left it, with notes and photographs placed there by friends in the weeks after her death.

The family’s everyday struggle to come to terms with Chelsea’s death was not made easier after details of the teenagers suicide appeared on a website about suicides and violent deaths.

The story of Chelsea’s death appeared on ViewMyDeath.com and her photo also appeared on the site’s Top Ten Deaths column.

The site was shut down on March 19, 2008 by web administrators.

Trudy is now looking ahead to the future and the end of the first painful chapter of her ordeal when the inquest finally takes place.

Once that is concluded Trudy hopes to be able to remember Chelsea as the beautiful, feisty teenager she was best known as.

On May 13, Chelsea would have been 18. Despite the fact she will not be here to celebrate friends and family say they refuse to let the day slip by unnoticed.

“Chelsea may have been gone for a year but she hasn’t been forgotten,” said Trudy.

“She was always known as a party girl so her 18th will be an event fitting of the Chelsea we all remember.”