Neighbours of a woman who tried to murder her young daughter have said she was a “good parent” who aspired to be a doctor.

The woman, formerly of Hainault, was locked up under the Mental Health Act on Friday after she attempted to smother her six-year-old daughter, who can’t be named for legal reasons, with a pillow telling her she was “going somewhere better to meet God”.

But the child managed to wriggle free and ran out of the house to get help, the Old Bailey heard.

Four weeks earlier the mother had been discharged from Goodmayes Hospital in Barley Lane, Goodmayes, and was visited by a care in the community team every day.

But she spat out the medication she was given.

People living nearby said she had become depressed after the birth of her second child and they noticed a change in her behaviour before the attack last year.

A neighbour said: “A few days before the incident I spoke to her in the street and she was different to usual.

“She told me she felt tired and didn’t have anything else to say. She didn’t look herself and didn’t recognise a friend I was with who she had met a couple of times before.”

The neighbour insisted the woman was fine before the birth of her second child and described her as a good mother and a helpful person.

“She had a lot of friends and was happy,” she said. “She was studying at university and told me she wanted to become a doctor. I didn’t see her as much after she had her child though as she was busy.”

Another neighbour said: “She was a decent educated woman and I don’t think she meant to do what she did.”

Judge Roger Chapple ordered the mother-of-two be detained at a secure mental health unit without time limit after she pleaded guilty to attempted murder.

A spokesman for North East London NHS Foundation Trust said in a statement: “Due to issues of confidentiality, we are unable to discuss the details of an individual case.

“However, in all cases of this severity, there is a full investigation of the care of the patient and set of recommendations are put in place to ensure everything is done to avoid a similar event in the future.

“When any patient is discharged from hospital a full assessment is made.

Our aim is always to encourage as much independence and community living as possible while minimising the risk.

“The safety and wellbeing of children is always of paramount importance and the trust works very closely with children and families’ social services in such cases, as we did on this occasion.”