Woman found 12-year-old son, who was targeted by 'nasty bullies,' lifeless on bedroom floor
An inquest into the death of a 12-year-old boy, a victim of bullying who took his own life, heard how his mother found him lifeless on the floor of his bedroom.
According to the Daily Mail, Mason Warwick was last seen alive by his father, 33-year-old Daniel Warwick, a construction worker, at around 8:30 pm on March 21. The preteen, who was a student at Varndean High School, had come downstairs at their Brighton home to make himself a cup of tea before heading back to his bedroom and locking himself inside.
His mother, 39-year-old community care worker Kelly, returned home that day at around 10:45 pm and went to check on him, and saw that his bedroom light was on. When there was no response, she realized something was horribly wrong.
When she finally managed to get into the room, she found him lying on the bedroom floor with something around his neck and immediately called emergency services. Paramedics arrived within minutes and CPR was carried out for 45 minutes but to little avail.
He was subsequently taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital at around 11:45 pm, where doctors once again attempted to restart his heart. But the repeated efforts proved to have no effect, and the 12-year-old was pronounced dead at 12:09 am.
Mason's relatives and friends paid tribute to him after his death, describing him as their "amazing special angel." Speaking about the preteen, a family member similarly said, "He was the loveliest, sweetest boy. He was happy-go-lucky, really polite, and loved by everybody. You couldn't ask for a better kid."
His death shook the community, with the English Premier League game between Brighton and Hove Albion FC and Southampton on March 30 seeing a minute of applause held at the 12th minute in his honor.
The post-mortem was carried out by Andreas Marnerides, a consultant pathologist at St. Thomas's Hospital in London, who recorded Mason's provisional cause of death as compression of the neck.
While neither the cause of his death nor the reasons behind it have been determined, a GoFundMe page set up to raise money for his devastated parents seemed to indicate it had to do with bullying. "This beautiful little boy Mason took his own life Thursday night due to nasty bullies [sic]," it read. "He was such a loving caring young man with a heart of gold."
"His parents Kelly and Daniel are struggling [with] the loss of their little prince as you can imagine, and would love anyone to help raise a bit of money to help them at this sad time," it continued. "Money won't bring that precious boy home but will help the family a little. RIP Mason."
Veronica Hamilton-Deeley, the coroner for Brighton and Hove, told the court police inquiries were still ongoing and adjourned the inquest until 10:30 am on July 17.