Web sites selling prescription drugs on the Internet are "cynically manipulating vulnerable people who are desperate".

Sue Bracknell was speaking after the inquest into her son's death found that the 24-year-old had taken his own life while suffering from depression.

Liam Bracknell, a Durham University graduate student, became addicted to a cocktail of drugs after ordering them online.

He committed suicide in June after stepping out in front of a tube train in east London.

According to the Independent, Bracknell was receiving up to 300 anti-depressant pills a day through the post after ordering the prescription drugs online.

Now Mrs Bracknell has called in the Government to do more to stop unscrupulous companies selling prescription drugs on the Internet.

She told the BBC: "If the government persist in their refusal to address this problem, lives will continue to be destroyed by unscrupulous profiteers who are given free reign to peddle and push their drugs.

"I felt I was tiny compared to the Internet. It's an invisible enemy."

Earlier this year a US study found that half of the online pharmacies investigated were unlicensed giving rise to concerns that people were obtaining prescription drugs that might not be suitable for their needs. ®