A mother who was embroiled in a wrangle with Birmingham social services over the care of her mentally ill daughter has tried to kill herself in Spain for the third time.

Wendy Ainscow, who moved from the city to the Wirral a year ago, survived a suicide pact in which her 75-year-old husband died in November 2004.

The pair took anti-depressants before wading into the sea off the island of Tenerife. Mrs Ainscow was rescued by a Spanish fishing boat.

In April 2005 Mrs Ainscow again travelled to Tenerife and tried to take her life in the same way, but without success.

On Saturday Mrs Ainscow returned to the Canary Islands, where she was rescued unconscious in the sea off La Gomera.

Her first attempt - while she was living in a city centre apartment with her husband -was believed to be in despair over her the compulsive spending sprees by her daughter Lisa, who lived in an adjacent flat.

She had complained that neither Wirral Social Services nor Birmingham Social Services had offered appropriate care for her daughter, while they in turn said the Ainscows had repeatedly refused help offered to them.

Her latest suicide attempt reportedly came because she was depressed about a 90-minute drama due to be screened shortly on ITV. Called Mysterious Creatures, it is based on the story of Wendy and her daughter, Lisa, 35.

In addition, Mrs Ainscow's solicitor, David Kirwan, is currently preparing a libel action against The Mail on Sunday over a recent interview with Lisa.

Both mother and daughter currently live on the Wirral, in separate flats.

Miss Ainscow said she was desperate to go out and visit her mother, but had no money to do so."

"I see her all the time and this is a terrible shock," she said. "I knew she had been down, about the film that is coming out and all the publicity around it.

"I am not good, not good at all."

Mrs Ainscow had claimed that her daughter threw temper tantrums unless she was given around £100 a day to spend on luxuries, food and shoes. Miss Ainscow had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act, but later allowed to go free after a mental health tribunal which her parents were not informed about.

"My mother is in hospital in Tenerife and I've got no money to go and see her," she said last night.

"I'm in an absolutely terrible state, and nobody is helping me. I'm stuck here in the Wirral and I can't afford even to make a call to her."