Boy, 4, is found hanged

A YOUNG BOY was found hanging from a tie in his bedroom just an hour after being sent upstairs for being naughty, an inquest heard yesterday.

Charlie Dugmore, four, was banished to his room by his mother, Margaret, last March after he made a mess in the kitchen and splashed water in the bathroom. The boy hanged himself with a tie he had attached to the door-knob.

Mrs Dugmore told the inquest in Birmingham that when she went upstairs 'he looked like he was standing there with his head poking round the door at me. Then I realised his feet weren't touching the ground. I was shouting 'Don't do this to me Charlie'. His head was on one side. I lifted him off and he was cold.'

Dr Peter Ackland, a pathologist, said Charlie had died due to pressure on the nerves in his neck, which would cause his heart to stop. The coroner, Dr Richard Whittington, recorded a verdict of accidental death.