A CURIOUS teenager accidentally took his life after looking at pictures of Anime characters hanging themselves online, an inquest heard.

Luke Henry Bunce, 13, had been searching images of cartoons on his phone before he carried out an experiment that ended in tragedy.

The schoolboy was found unconscious on the stairs at his family's home in Lychpit, Basingstoke, on Sunday, March 10 after his mum returned home from shopping.

Stephanie Bunce told an inquest that when she went to call 999 on her son's phone, she was "shocked" to find it was open on an internet page which showed images of Anime characters hanging.

At the inquest held in Basingstoke on Monday, Luke's parents Stephanie and Christian described the day as an ordinary "lazy Sunday."

Mr Bunce took their other son to football and Mrs Bunce went to Tesco, leaving Luke at home.

In a statement, Mrs Bunce said she told Luke "not to do anything silly" and checked he was ok before leaving.

The court heard this was because it was the first time the teenager was left home alone since an incident a year prior where he had "set some paper on fire and caused a small fire in the home".

In the statement, Mrs Bunce said that this had “scared” him and he was rarely left on his own.

On the day of the tragedy, the court heard how Mrs Bunce returned home after an hour to find Luke at the top of the stairs unconscious.

He was taken to North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke where he was pronounced dead.

The inquest also heard that the 13-year-old was part of a Whatsapp group with friends where they discussed the infamous Momo challenge - an online urban myth which hit international headlines this year.

However, in giving evidence Detective Sergeant Dawn White said there was no indication that Luke had participated in the discussions.

Acting north Hampshire coroner Samantha Marsh added: "He just appears to have been included in a group where it was discussed. He does not appear to have done any research on Momo or any way to harm himself. The Momo challenge in itself has not played any causative part in Luke's death."

DS White said that when looking at Luke's phone, there had been searches for amine characters hanging which produced a number of cartoon stills, but there was no indication the Luke intended to take his life.

Paediatric pathologist, Samantha Holden, told the coroner a mark on Luke's neck showed his death would be consistent with death being caused by pressure on the neck. An examination of his brain showed it had been deprived of oxygen as he died, the inquest heard

Acting coroner Samantha Marsh said: “I am sure that he did not intended to injure himself. What I think is more likely is that Luke was curious and he was trying something out, and like the previous incident he wanted to do it when his parents were out of the house.”

The coroner said he would have lost consciousness quickly adding: “This was a tragic experiment where Luke did not think of what the risks would be to his actions.”

Mrs Marsh passed a conclusion of misadventure.

Luke's parents described him as an ordinary teenager who liked card games and dungeons and dragons.

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