An inquest has heard that a boy of 12 who accidentally hanged himself may have been trying to trick his mum for a joke.
Marlowe Isaac Myers was found dangling from a coat hook in the kitchen of his Cambridgeshire home, the zip of his jacket compressing the front of his neck.
His mum, Nicki Myers, 39, who is paralysed down one side of her body, made a frantic attempt to cut him down from the hook with a kitchen knife, but could not reach him properly from her wheelchair.
Paramedics were called to the family's home and desperately tried to save the young boy's life, but he was later pronounced dead at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge.
Coroner David Morris ruled out suicide during the inquest in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, and said that he feared that the boy – who was known by his middle name, Isaac - had killed himself when a practical joke went wrong.
Police officers investigating his death found a chair beside the coat hook, and the court heard this suggested he could have intended to wear his coat while it was still on the hook.
"I can't be satisfied that Marlowe, who was known to those who loved him as Isaac, took his own life," Mr Morris told the hearing.
"We cannot rule out that the little boy may have been playing a prank on his mother, which he often did, or simply experimenting and playing with the jacket."
Mr Morris added that he had heard no evidence to suggest Isaac was unhappy or being bullied and said that 'therefore, suicide has to be ruled out'.
"It is not a verdict of accidental death as he did something deliberately, but tragically didn't realise the weight of his actions," Mr Morris said.
On the day of his death, September 4 last year, Isaac had returned home following his first day back at school. He and his mum had dinner together, before Ms Myers went upstairs to rest leaving Isaac to play on his computer. She found him hanging in the kitchen when she came back down at around 9pm.
After the inquest, Ms Myers said it was an 'exceptionally sad time' and that Isaac had been an 'an extremely intelligent and gifted child'.
"He was such a compassionate boy, he loved his animals and was so kind," she said. "He helped me even though I have carers to do that, and didn't want the boys to do anything for me."
The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.