Boy, 11, kills himself with dressing gown cord in his bedroom as prank goes tragically wrong

An 11-year-old schoolboy accidentally hanged himself with a dressing gown cord in his bedroom when a prank went wrong, an inquest head.

Tragic Sonny Jack Yates Pearson had previously been found playing with an improvised rope swing in his room.

Despite the desperate attempts of his parents and medics to revive him, Sonny died.

The inquest heard a heartbreaking account of how Sonny – described by his family as a happy, well-adjusted boy – was at home with his mum and sister in Appleby, Cumbria, on January 16 waiting to go out.

He was found hanged 10 minutes after he went into his room by his mum Nicola when she went in there to put away some washing.

At first she thought it was a prank, but then to her horror realised what was happening.

Despite having a broken arm, she and other family members did everything they could to save him, trying to resuscitate him but to no avail.

At times weeping as the circumstances of the tragedy were described, Sonny’s mum said: “We were going out that afternoon. We were all getting ready to go out... Sonny was messing about in his room.

“There was nothing we could do. He was always messing about. He used to mess around with rope and make things. He made swings outside.”

Sonny’s dad, Andrew Colin Pearson, spoke of spending the previous evening with his son, who loved football and all sport.

“He was amazing – everybody knew him,” said Mr Pearson, who added they had enjoyed pizza together that night.

Stepfather Michael Longrigg recalled how a few months earlier he had gone into his stepson’s room to ask him if he wanted to play a Fifa game on the X-Box and found him about to use a swing attached to the ceiling beam.

“I immediately told him to stop,” he said.

“He said they did it all the time when they were playing. I explained how dangerous it could be and how that was how an accident could happen.

“I never saw Sonny do anything like that again.”

Assistant coroner Dr Nicholas Shaw, sitting at Carlisle Coroner’s Court, said: “This has come out of the blue as a complete tragedy.

“There’s no evidence to suggest Sonny Jack was unhappy but there was evidence that he enjoyed playing with ropes, despite having been told not to.

“It was a case of misadventure – which is when you are doing something which goes wrong unexpectedly.”