A "boy who cried wolf" prankster died in a 'fake' suicide gone wrong that was designed to scare his girlfriend, an inquest heard.

Supermarket worker Danny Munro tied his tracksuit bottoms around his neck as his girlfriend told him to stop messing about because he "wasn't funny".

Weeks earlier the 26 year-old had covered himself in tomato ketchup and stumbled into the room claiming he'd been stabbed. Another time he feigned suffering anaphylactic shock after eating nuts.

His partner Amy Leaman even warned him about the sick jokes he played on her and about "the little boy who cried wolf".

The inquest into his death heard he "loved winding up' girlfriend, his family and friends. However, when things went wrong on August 1 last year, Mr Munro was rushed to hospital when Ms Leaman realised he was choking following the prank at their home near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs.

She cut him down and paramedics rushed to the home, but he died three days later at Royal Stoke University Hospital.

She told the hearing: "A few weeks before he put tomato sauce on himself and told me that he'd stabbed himself but I could smell tomato sauce and realised it was a prank. Then we had a conversation about the boy who cries wolf."