Exam mark led to boy's suicide

(First Edition)

A SCHOOLBOY committed suicide after he failed to get full marks in a science exam, an inquest was told yesterday.

Michael Hearson, 15, electrocuted himself after spending hours studying the work of Michael Faraday, who discovered the induction of electric currents, the inquest in Nottingham heard.

The teenager was expecting a 100 per cent pass in a school exam and was distressed when he got only 70 per cent. He left a suicide note which read: 'I have grown to realise I am not intelligent enough for the life I wish to lead.'

His brother Howard, 21, who found him lying on the kitchen floor at their home in Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire, told the inquest: 'His face was blue and he was holding a wire connected to the wall.'

The coroner, Peter Jenkin-Jones, recorded a verdict that Michael took his own life.

After the inquest Michael's father, Ronald Hearson, 62, said: 'Michael's ambition was to become a top scientist. Nothing less than 100 per cent would do and although he got 70 per cent, he still felt he was a failure.'