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A young man hoping to join the Royal Marines died after he was found hanging in a busy nightclub’s toilet.
Brandon Knight, 20, from Newington, near Sittingbourne, was resuscitated and taken to hospital after he was discovered in a cubicle at the Source Bar in Maidstone while on a night out with friends.
Club staff and paramedics desperately tried to save him and he was then treated by doctors at Maidstone Hospital, an inquest heard.
But he died after suffering brain damage when his condition deteriorated the following day.
Brandon’s mother, Lynne Knight, described her son’s death as “a tragedy” for his family and friends as he was “loved by so many”.
Speaking after the inquest, she said hours before going out, her son had been preparing for his training week with the Marines in Devon in February and was “excited” to join.
The inquest heard Brandon, who previously lived in Upchurch and went to Rainham Mark Grammar School and later Waterfront UTC in Chatham, had also expressed anxieties towards leaving home, his friends and family.
But his mother had reassured him he would come back and that his friends and family supported what he planned to do.
Ms Knight said while her son had struggles, he would “always come through it” after friends or family spoke to him.
“He said he wanted a career where he could make a difference to people,” Ms Knight added.
“He’s saved four lives from the organ donation including a young girl who has his heart.
“He was a real action man and was always clowning around with a big smile on his face.”
Tributes flooded in for Brandon, a keen kickboxer, and a fundraising page was set up to help his family pay for his funeral after his death.
Ms Knight said her son could be impulsive but believes he wanted to be found as he had not gone off to the woods and was in a public place he knew were regularly checked.
She added before the coronavirus pandemic, friends were hoping to host a fundraising music festival in Brandon’s memory this summer to support mental health charities as he loved going to festivals.
The court heard Brandon, a trainee fabricator, was found at 1.30am on Sunday, January 12 by a member of staff checking the toilets.
Coroner Scott Matthewson said CCTV footage captured Brandon entering the cubicle alone at 12.49am and shadows on the footage showed movement for the following five minutes.
Nightclub staff entered the loos twice during the next 40 minutes but did not suspect anything was wrong until a third visit raised suspicions when the toilet door would not open.
In a statement read to the court, the Source Bar’s manager said staff assumed there was someone asleep but only when they climbed onto the sink and looked over saw Brandon.
Evidence was heard about Brandon’s history of anxiety, low moods and anger following his parents’ separation in 2012.
“He was a real action man and was always clowning around with a big smile on his face...”
His mother said in recent years he had come to terms with it but would on occasion “snap” or “meltdown”.
The court heard Brandon was upset on the night out and told a friend he feared his girlfriend did not like him anymore.
Reading evidence, Mr Matthewson said a pal spoke to Brandon for about 10 minutes to calm him down and he had also spoken to his girlfriend and danced together before she went off with other friends.
The court heard Brandon had threatened to kill himself in the past and mentioned it to a mate while out that night.
But “this was not unusual” and Brandon had made “no serious attempts” to take his own life and had not left a note.
Recording a conclusion of misadventure, Mr Matthewson said: “Nobody could have predicted at that time he was serious in taking his own life.
“He had difficulties when it came to trust and relationships.
“For reasons we will probably not get to the bottom of there came a point Brandon went to the toilets. He had a lot to live for – a career, a loving family and girlfriend – if only he could see that.”
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