A 13-year-old boy who was found suspended from a pull-up bar in his bedroom accidentally strangled himself with his dressing gown sash, an inquest found.
Harry Rock, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was working out on exercise equipment attached to his bedroom door frame when the belt wrapped itself around his chin and suffocated him.
The inquest heard that Harry, known affectionately as ‘Bear’, was being home-schooled because he was so academically advanced, and that he wanted a six-pack.
Coroner James Healy-Pratt recorded a verdict of misadventure, saying the boy had died of inadvertent suspension in ‘a tragic experiment that went sadly wrong’.
Family members applauded the decision and spoke of their relief after it definitively ruled out any suicidal intent.
Mother Amanda Rock had argued throughout that the dressing gown sash had not been wrapped around her son’s neck when she found him hanging from the exercise bar early in the afternoon of March 20, 2017.
Harry Rock (pictured), 13, was found suspended by a dressing gown sash from a pull-up bar attached to his bedroom door frame. The coroner ruled that the boy, nicknamed ‘Bear’, died from misadventure
She said she was ‘totally in agreement’ with the coroner’s ruling of misadventure, and that he was ‘a boy doing boy stuff’.
The dressing gown sash was caught around his face and under his chin, and a ‘rickety chair’ was found tipped onto the floor.
‘I knew all along he hadn’t killed himself,’ she told the Argus afterwards.
‘There was no evidence to support it. He was a normal, happy 13-year old boy. I will protect my son until the day I die.’
The home-schooled teenager had had a religious studies class on the morning of his death.
Mrs Rock told of her distress at finding her son’s body hanging in the doorway after going to check on her son after finishing up with a client at her home hairdressing business.
‘I almost walked into him,’ she told the court.
His mother, Amanda Rock, said she was ‘totally in agreement’ with the coroner’s ruling of misadventure. ‘He’s a boy doing boy stuff,’ she said, adding that Harry desired a six-pack
‘I thought it was a joke at first because he appeared to be smiling, but then I realised it was his tongue hanging out.’
She told how her son, who was known as ‘Bear’, seemed to be breathing when she lowered him onto the floor, prompting her to perform CPR on him.
But he was declared dead at Eastbourne General Hospital after paramedics rushed to the scene.
‘We’re not supposed to bury our children,’ said Mrs Rock.
‘I was blessed to have him in my life for 13 years, and now he’s gone home.’
Harry loved cats and gaming, and had been home-schooled due to his advanced academic ability.
He was undergoing tutoring for his upcoming GCSE exams, just weeks away, and aspired to go to college, his mother said after the inquest.
Helga Edwards, a friend of the family, told the court: ‘Harry always struck me as a very well adjusted boy.
‘I am 100% convinced that it was an accident and it would be a very cruel misjudgement for anyone to state that he took his own life.’
The fundraising page set up in honour of Harry has raised £1,581.87 for the charities Cats Protection and You Raise Me Up.