A teenage boy took his own life after appearing to joke about suicide methods with his friends ahead of a court appearance, an inquest heard.

Cameron Balfour was found hanging in an outbuilding in his back garden in August.

An inquest into the 18-year-old’s death heard he was concerned about an upcoming court appearance for travelling on a train without a ticket, and was upset with a recent exam result.

Detective Sergeant Rachel Elmore told the inquest at Gravesend Old Town Hall yesterday that the Dartford student spent the evening of August 30 with his family before heading to bed.

But during the night Mr Balfour, of Hook Green Road, entered the annexe directly opposite his house and hanged himself.

His body was discovered by his father shortly after 8.30am the next day.

DS Elmore told senior coroner, Roger Hatch: “Cameron was described as a typical teenager who spent a lot of time in his room and was studying his A-Levels. He wanted to go into the medical field and did volunteer work recently.”

“The family are devastated. There was no indication as to what could have caused this. They assume it was a build up of small events.

"Cameron received a C in an exam paper after being predicted an A. He was worrying about his court appearance and getting a criminal record and how it would affect future plans but he had discussed this with his parents," DS Elmore added.

"Cameron received a C in an exam paper after being predicted an A. He was worrying about his court appearance and getting a criminal record and how it would affect future plans but he had discussed this with his parents” - DS Elmore

Mr Balfour’s phone and laptop were searched for evidence. Logs showed the teenager, who was born in London, sent four Snapchats to a friend on the night of his death which said he was going to kill himself and had “little over an hour left”.

Tragically the messages were not opened until it was too late.

Detectives also found a separate group conversation with friends in which Mr Balfour expressed concerns about his court appearance.

He said: “I will get a pen at court and stab myself in the neck.” This sparked a conversation about suicide and a friend sent Mr Balfour a link to a website which listed suicide methods and success rates.

Mr Balfour discussed several methods with friends but DS Elmore said the chat appeared jokey.

But the tragic teenager later said he would leave a note apologising to his family before asking his friend, “for real if I gave you warning would you keep it quiet?”

The court was told Mr Balfour was on no medication, did not experiment with drugs and rarely drank.

Senior coroner, Roger Hatch, said: “There seems to be some indication of intention and evidence given as to the various messages. I am satisfied that he intended to take his own life.”

Mr Hatch recorded a verdict of suicide.

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