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An Audi apprentice mechanic found dead in woodland near his Woodley home had been locked in a cage, had his clothes set alight and was bullied by his colleagues, an inquest heard.

The parents of 18-year-old George Cheese said he had been "over the moon" when he got the position but soon started coming home covered in bruises and had multiple holes burned into his clothes.

Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford heard at an inquest at Reading Town Hall on Wednesday, May 24, that their son said his colleagues had locked him in a cage by force, doused him in a flammable liquid and set fire to his clothes.

His mother, Purdy, said on another occasion he had returned from work in Reading with a limp after four men had held him to the ground while a fifth punched his thigh repeatedly to give him a dead leg.

His father Keith Cheese said that on April 9, 2015 he had seen his son walk downstairs and he believed George had taken the dog out to meet his friends but soon discovered the animal was still at home.

A few hours later the couple heard sirens outside their Kingfisher Drive home and discovered George had been found dead in Highwood Nature Reserve.

Mr Cheese told the coroner he would never forgive himself for missing the warning signs leading to his son's death.

The inquest heard on the evening before his death, George had been pacing around the house, saying "I have to quit, I can't go back there" over and over again.

Having told his son not to resign and that things would get better, Mr Cheese said he now realised how "ridiculous" this response was.

Mrs Cheese said she had been aware of the decline in her son's mental health for several months and she had been able to ensure he took his medication until the final few days of his life, when she had fallen ill.

She said he had attempted to overdose twice before his death.

She added in the final months of his life, the verbal abuse from his colleagues had cut much deeper than his physical injuries and she revealed he had arrived at work one morning and was greeted by his boss who said: "Oh, so you are alive after all".

No action was taken after George reported the problem

As his mental illness became known around his workplace, his mother said comments such as "take your happy pills George, you're going to need them" became a regular occurrence.

The coroner heard no action was taken after George reported the problem and he had later told his mother his boss had seen him the day he got locked in the cage and had reacted by laughing and walking away.

The inquest heard George had also struggled after he split from his girlfriend, who he had been dating on and off for almost two years.

Her written statement was read out by the coroner and included a letter George had sent to her just days before he died, saying he loved her and wanted to marry her.

However, he had also indicated he wasn't going to be around "to bother her" for much longer.

George had hoped to follow his dream of becoming a mechanic

George had enlisted to become an Army mechanic in February 2014 but had to quit when he suffered stress fractures to both legs and applied for the job at the Audi dealership in the hope he could still follow his dream.

In a statement read by Mr Bedford, service manager Julie Adams of the Reading mental health team said George had told her about his abusive colleagues, saying "they have set people on fire before" but didn't mention what had happened to him.

During a crisis call from the mental health department following his first overdose, George had told her his employers "could really take it too far sometimes", to the point when it "actually got a bit dangerous".

Miss Adams said he was worried his girlfriend was going to leave him but would not speak about the failing relationship as he claimed this made him prone to panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.

She added he had told several counsellors he had once intended to kill himself but had been talked out of it by a friend who happened to call him.

Michelle Mbayiwa who conducted a review into the mental health trust's conduct after George's death, said he was still waiting for his appointment with a counsellor when he died.

She said that four to six weeks waiting time was normal for a patient deemed by psychiatrists as at "moderate risk", but believed this assessment should have been upgraded when George told of his previous suicide attempts.

The coroner heard one of George's bosses at Audi Reading had previously told him to "hurry up and kill himself" and described him as "useless", according to notes found on his iPad after his death.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

When confronted about this by Thames Valley Police, the dealership's manager, Terry Kindeleit, said it might have been one of his superiors who had "gone berserk" after George refused to clean the floor in the garage but would not reveal his full name, according to a transcript presented at the inquest.

He told the coroner that when George's parents had approached him to talk about the abuse, George had been sitting in a corner of the room with his head down and had later told him he did not wish to make a formal complaint.

Based on this, Mr Kindeleit said he had concluded George was making it up and said he would not have been surprised if the story was completely fabricated by the "troubled individual".

However, Mr Kindeleit did not deny he witnessed George being locked in a cage and set on fire and had reacted by laughing and walking away, but he could not recall telling George's parents about this at the meeting.

"It was not bullying"

Referring to the months of alleged abuse, George's line manager, Simon Wright, said his actions - which included setting fire to his trousers, giving him the "dead leg" and taking him for a test drive to force him to walk back - said it had all been "horseplay" and "banter".

He said: "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 when George returned from the test drive, where he had been dropped off half a mile away, he had smile on his face and he did not know it had affected his colleague in any way.

Mr Wright admitted setting fire to George's trousers but said their work uniforms were made of non-flammable material, which was why he needed to douse them in flammable liquid.

He said on a separate occasion, he had seen George do the same thing himself and claimed he had not been harmed in either of the circumstances.

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

The inquest continues.

The coroner concluded Audi Reading staff were not to blame for George's death.