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Teenager hanged himself after girlfriend's abortion
A TEENAGER hanged himself weeks after discovering his ex-girlfriend had had an abortion.
Leon Boulton was found hanging from a bannister at his home in Westcott Street, Hull.
An inquest in Hull was told the 18-year-old and his girlfriend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had an on-off relationship and she had been shocked when she discovered last September that she was pregnant.
In a statement read to the court she said: "Leon said we should keep the baby but I wasn't sure."
Tests revealed it could be an ectopic pregnancy and she decided to have an abortion.
The Saturday before he died she was told Leon had threatened to kill himself, but was reassured that it wasn't serious.
His friend Christopher Conway said the former Malet Lambert student was "gutted" when he found out she'd had an abortion.
Leon - described as quite and shy - had rung him to say he'd tried to kill himself and when asked why said he was "sick of everything." The following week he showed him a rope he kept under his bed.
He also wrote a note to his mother Julie Fenn saying he wanted to get out of Hull and he was sorry.
On the night of his death he'd been to watch Manchester United play at the Punch Bowl pub on James Reckitt Avenue.
Mrs Fenn said he'd been drinking but otherwise was his normal happy self. But later she found him on his bed with tears streaming down his face.
Shortly afterwards she found him suspended from the bannister with a rope round his neck. Paramedics were unable to revive him.
Assistant coroner Prof Robert Forrest recorded a verdict that Leon had killed himself, and added: "I have no doubt on the basis of the notes, despite the fact he was moderately drunk, that he knew that what he was doing was likely to end his life."
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