Hanged Haslingden teen ‘acted alone’ (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Hanged Haslingden teen ‘acted alone’

11:50am Saturday 27th February 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

THERE was no third party involvement in the death of a Haslingden teenager found hanging from a tree close to his home, a coroner has found.

Chad Irving, a ‘popular and lively boy’, was discovered in Pit Pocket Park, near Wells Street, Haslingden, the morning after his 17th birthday.

An inquest at Accrington Town Hall heard that Chad’s family felt ‘much remained unexplained’ about their son’s death.

On the second and final day of the inquest, PC Graham Wareing told the court he was the first officer on the scene on the morning of March 4, 2006.

He said: “The ground was covered in snow and I obse-rved that the only disturbed area was one set of foot-prints leading up to the body.”

He added that he accomp-anied Chad’s body to Burn-ley Hospital and saw there were no obvious injuries.

Chad, a former Hasling-den High School pupil, had been celebrating his birth-day at his girlfriend Stevie Smith’s house the previous evening. He left to join friends in Clayton-le-Moors and on returning to Haslin-gden he tried to go back to the party, and argued with his girlfriend.

The inquest heard that during the night Chad, who lived in Poplar Street, had spoken to her but she did not have any suspicions that he was in a disturbed frame of mind.

Chad’s mobile phone records showed 47 phone contacts with a number listed as Jammy that night.

Police had not been able to identify the contact.

Detective Inspector Simon Chatey was called in to review the police investig-ation of the death.

He said interviews with several people named in connection with Chad’s death had not brought any evidence forward that a third party was involved.

DI Chatey said an expert in knots had concluded that ‘the deceased could have formed the knot himself in the manner described.’ Coroner Michael Single-ton recorded a narrative verdict, stating: “There is no evidence of the involvement of any other person in his death although it is not possible to be certain of his intentions.”

A spokesman for Lanca-shire police said: “While this is clearly a tragic case and our thoughts remain with Mr Irving's family, we are confident that a full, thorough and professional investigation was carried out following Chad’s death.”