A TEENAGER at a boarding school took his own life days after classmates smeared poo in his pillow, an inquest heard.

A coroner ruled French-born Pierre DaCosta Noble intended his actions and would have been ‘deeply upset’ by the incident. Andrew Tweddle heard poo was also smeared inside one of Pierre’s boot and said it impacted on the decision he made on November 9 last year.

The 14-year-old was described as a model pupil at Windermere School after he joined as a boarder in Spring 2019. But he told his friends he was not enjoying his time at the school, Cockermouth Coroner’s Court was told.

Statements from his friends suggested he was a happy boy and was very popular.

Jennifer Davies, head of safeguarding at Windermere School, was asked by the coroner if she felt a multi-agency report into the death, which said the excrement incident had no impact on his decision to take his own life, made the right conclusion.

She said: “Given the passing of time, I don’t believe the conclusion of the report was correct.”

The report was put together after a review was instigated to see if there were any lessons that could be learned from Pierre’s death.

Paul Ainsworth, a physics teacher and house master of Pierre, said: “He was very popular with all the other students. I would describe him as a model pupil.

“Someone had put excrement in his boot and smeared it on the inside of his pillow.

“We found it odd that he was targeted as he was well liked.”

Mr Ainsworth described the night Pierre died and spoke of how he had gone missing when it was time for the boys to go to bed.

The inquest heard he had signed out just after an evening meeting at around 8pm and had not returned.

Mr Ainsworth said he thought he would either be in a friend’s block or speaking with his parents on the phone so asked a couple of senior boys to look for him.

The hearing was told how the two pupils returned visibly upset after finding the Year 9 student hanged.

Mr Ainsworth tried to resuscitate him until the emergency services arrived and took him to Royal Lancaster Infirmary, where he was later pronounced dead. He said he did not follow normal protocol to raise the fire alarm if a child was missing due to his concern it would cause Pierre more distress on what was already a difficult week.

The coroner asked Joanna Parry, deputy head of pastoral care at Windermere School at the time, whether he made the right decision.

“I believe he made a good decision. He did not know what the students were going to find when they went out,” she said.

Headteacher Ian Lavender was asked by the coroner why he never had any face to face interaction with the student. He explained there was a system in place, and that he was aware of the incident classed as bullying, but would only be involved himself further down the line. “I deeply regret that I did not get involved with the matter sooner,” he said.

The coroner said: “It is clear what his intentions were.It is my conclusion that Pierre did deliberately intend to take his own life.”

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