Trending News|February 28, 2014 11:59 EST
British Boy Hangs Himself Due to Guilty Conscience From Spending $700 in Xbox Live Marketplace, 'He was Upset that I was Upset' Mother Says
A British teenager hanged himself after getting in trouble for spending his mother's money on Xbox video games, and now three months later the inquest into his death is over.
13-year-old Henry Tattersall was worried he would not be getting any Christmas presents because of his family's financial situation, so he used his mother's credit card to rack up roughly $700 worth of video game purchases on the Xbox Live marketplace.
Once his mother Eve found out, she was understandably upset at the young man, which was something Henry could not bare.
"I personally believe that Henry was very shocked at the amount of money he had spent. He was upset that I was upset," Eve said at the hearing, according to the UK's Daily Star. "He was upset that he had spent the money and we weren't in a position to be able to afford that amount of money."
NY Daily News reported this incident followed a grounding he received after being caught with a cigarette.
However, there was a sign of his impending suicide, but the window to do something was only 15 minutes big. "I'm going to kill myself," he wrote on his Facebook page mere minutes before being found dead. Henry also posted about a friend named Declan Gatenby who had committed suicide in July.
"I think he had a very guilty conscience. He clearly dwelt on this and thought about it and was upset about what had happened," Richard Taylor, the coroner, said according to the UK's Daily Mirror. "And maybe the conversation about Declan was a spur of the moment decision. I believe that he hoped to make a point himself and that he would be found and expected to be found and so he left his door open. I don't believe it was his intention to end his life."
He was found by his 16-year-old sister 40 minutes after they had last heard from him when he did not answer his mother's call for tea. Henry was found hanging from his bed.
"I'm glad it's all over now," Eve said at the hearing, according to Daily News. "I'd like to say thank you to everyone who supported us over the last three months. It's been amazing."
