A TRAINEE mechanic who hanged himself had been locked in a car boot and had his clothes set on fire by colleagues in the months leading up to his death, an inquest heard yesterday.

George Cheese, 18, had been ‘over the moon’ when he started at an Audi dealership but started coming home with bruises and holes burned in his clothes.

In his six months with the company, he was mocked for taking antidepressants and, after confronting his boss about being locked in a car boot, he was laughed at, it was alleged.

His dad Keith told the Reading inquest George had left the family’s home in Woodley, Berkshire, on April 9, 2015, and was later found by a neighbour nearby hanging from a dog lead.

The evening before his death, George said “I have to quit, I can’t go back there”, his father told the inquest, adding that he would never forgive himself for missing ‘warning signs’.

George’s line manager Simon Wright admitted: ‘I was in the workshop when a prank was played on George and he was set on fire. It did not go too far.

‘We knew where to draw the line. It was not bullying.’

He added that several things done to George, such as locking him in a car boot and hosing him down with a pressure cleaner, were things most apprentices were subjected to and that they would always be laughing at the end.

The inquest continues.