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A nine-year-old boy who claimed he was being bullied at school was found hanged following a minor family row, an inquest has heard.

Tragic Aaron Dugmore was so young he would not have appreciated the consequences of his actions, the court was told.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Birmingham coroner Louise Hunt described the incident as an “absolute tragedy”.

Following his death in February last year, Aaron’s family claimed he was bullied by Asian youngsters at his local primary school for being white.

The hearing was told there was no evidence of “systematic bullying” - but there had been previous “incidents” at his school.

Aaron, from Erdington, Birmingham, died in hospital a day after being found hanging from a ligature by a member of his family.

His distraught parents had desperately tried to save his life in the family home before paramedics arrived.

Before his death he told his mother Kelly Dugmore that other pupils at Erdington Hall School were picking on him.

She told the hearing how she picked up Aaron, who had learning difficulties, as usual from school at 3.20pm but he was not his usual happy self.

“He’d had an argument with another pupil, there was some pushing and shoving and I called him away,” she said.

She then refused to let him buy sweets on the way home and sent him to his room “to calm down” after a row about going outside to play.

“I heard a scream and went upstairs and saw Aaron hanging,” she said.

“I got him down and we were trying to get breath into his mouth and we also called an ambulance.”

Mrs Dugmore said Aaron had never threatened to hang himself before and, as far as she knew, had not seen any similar scenes on film or TV.

“He had never mentioned harming himself before, you never think a nine year old child would know about that.

“I considered that maybe one of the children at the school told him to do something.”

The hearing was told the previous “incidents” at his primary school had been dealt with appropriately and proportionately.

Det Insp Richard Scott, from West Midlands Police, said he questioned people connected to Aaron’s school but found no suspicious circumstances.

“There were a number of incidents at school with different individuals but each had been dealt with appropriately and no evidence of systematic bullying was found,” he said.

His family originally said Aaron, who had only recently joined the school, was threatened with a plastic knife by one Asian pupil who warned him: “Next time it will be a real one.”

Mrs Hunt told Aaron’s mother and stepfather: “Aaron was having what appeared to be a perfectly normal day - he went to school and came home as normal.

“There was an altercation in the house and he went to his bedroom.

“It’s clear that mum and stepdad did everything they possibly could to administer first aid - full credit to you for everything you tried to do.

“For suicide I have to be sure and I have no evidence about what his thoughts were or intentions were at that time, so I’m not going to consider a suicide conclusion.

“I’m also not sure a boy of that age could fully appreciate the consequences of that act and he had never spoken of doing anything like this before.”

Birmingham’s Safeguarding Board is carrying out a serious case review into Aaron’s death and offered sympathies to the family.

For confidential support contact Samaritans on 08457 909090 or click here.