A nine-year-old boy was found hanged in his bedroom after his mother sent him to tidy up, an inquest heard.
Joshua Stadius-Horn went upstairs with his younger brother to clean up their bedroom on New Years Day morning.
But shortly afterwards one of his other four brothers apepared and told their mother Joshua was not helping to tidy up and was “pretending to be dead.”
Horrified Helen Stadius-Horn rushed upstairs and found the youngster hanging in his bedroom.
She desperately gave him CPR before paramedics and the police arrived and he was airlifted Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
His father Stephen Horn, 36, rushed to the hospital from the prison where he works to be given the devastating news that tests showed no brain activity.
The couple made the heartbreaking decision to turn off Joshua’s life support machine at 10.48pm that night.
His brothers James, Joe and Jack, joined their parents at the hospital to say goodbye to Joshua before he died.
In a statement to the inquest Joshua’s grieving parents said: “Josh was an amazing son and brother and we are all devastated by such a tragic accident.
“We love him so much and he will be very much missed.”
The cause of death was recorded as “catastrophic” brain injury due to hanging.
Dr Diarmuid O’Donnell, a consultant in paediatric intensive care, said his injuries were so severe that no treatment would have given him a meaningful chance of recovery.
Cambridge coroner Jacqueline Lake said: “I’m satisfied that this is a tragic accident in which Joshua was not aware and did not intend the outcome of his actions.”
Joshua’s schoolfriends have been invited to attend his funeral on January 15 wearing onesies because his parents said he was “always in pj’s”.
After the inquest his mother said: “We will be eternally grateful to all our family, friends and colleagues for the love and support so freely given to us at this time.
“We would also like to pay tribute to the police, the ambulance service, the paramedics, East Anglian Air Ambulance, and everyone at Addenbrooke’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit who fought so hard to save our beloved son.”
Verdict: Accidental death.
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