A HAPPY schoolboy who hanged himself after reading about another Doncaster boy's similar death did not intend to kill himself, a coroner has ruled.
Coroner Stanley Hooper said the tragic death of 11-year-old Cameron MacDonald was accidental because he couldn't loosen the noose around his neck and did not realise the danger of what he was doing.
He issued a strong warning to others and urged
them not to experiment with hanging.
He said: "I would give a warning to people of all ages that such experimenting can lead to a situation from which one cannot extricate oneself."
The court heard a few hours before his body was discovered Cameron had read a newspaper report about the death of another Doncaster boy, Cameron McWilliams, who was found hanged at his home in Intake.
Cameron MacDonald's mother, Alison, a community psychiatric nurse, said her son was "mesmerised" by the story and asked questions about it before going up to his bedroom at their home in Oswin Avenue, Balby.
Half an hour later she went up to his room and found him hanging from his bunk bed. He could not be revived.
The youngster was described as a bright and happy boy with no worries, before his death on February 21.
His mother described Cameron's actions as a 'prank or experiment'.
Mr Hooper said: "He had read about something that happened to another boy in broadly similar circumstances. He was curious and inquisitive about things.
"I cannot record a verdict of suicide if there is any other explanation.
"I am quite satisfied that what this little chap was doing, was seeking to experiment and find out what happened to the other little boy.
"Having got into that position he has become unconscious within three minutes or so and found it impossible to get himself out and would have died from lack of oxygen.
"People do not realise the dreadful danger of experimenting in this sort of way."
Mr Hooper said he had dealt with three or four adult inquests in which the victims had been unable to extricate themselves from experimental hanging.
"If that can happen to an adult it can happen to a bubbly and inquisitive boy who would seek to find out things all the time."
Verdict: Accidental.
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