Boy hanged himself on rope swing

A boy aged nine accidentally hanged himself while playing on a rope swing in his garden after school, an inquest heard.

James Bray was still wearing his uniform when the tragedy happened at his home in Bishop’s Waltham, Hampshire, in July.

While his mother, Sarah, and older brother, Sam, 11, fed their horses in the garden, James’s head became trapped in the two strands of the knotted ropes, the hearing in Winchester was told.

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Recording a verdict of accidental death, Deputy Central Hampshire Coroner Simon Burge said the tragedy could not have been either avoided or anticipated.

He said that in times where children were often mollycoddled, James’s parents should be “applauded for making provision for a healthy, physically challenging life” and they should not feel responsible for his death.

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