MYSTERY surrounded the death of a teenage boy despite an inquest hearing how he put a shopping bag over his head as he went to sleep at Reading Festival.

An open verdict was recorded on the death of 17-year-old Matthew Jones despite him sending an "I'm sorry" Snapchat message to friends and asking them to pass it to his parents. He also texted a friend saying "I'm going to die."

Matthew was found blue-faced in a zipped-up sleeping bag inside his tent when his friends returned from the final act of the evening at the festival site, the inquest in Oxford was told.

The young man, who had not been deemed a high risk but had suffered from moderate depression, had taken recreational levels of the ketamine drug and alcohol.

The coroner heard that in the early hours of the next morning, his close friends discovered the teenager's body in a zipped-up sleeping bag.

Paramedics found that Matthew had been not breathing for too long and he was pronounced dead at 2.17am on August 28 last year.

The following day, it was found that Matthew had sent a number of messages to friends and acquaintances, including a group Snapchat that read: “Tell my friends and family it’s okay. I’m sorry.” and a text to friend George Ross that read “I’m going to die.”

One of Matthew's close friends, said: “I know that Matthew has been quite badly depressed for a couple of years. I don’t think he has ever tried to kill himself before.

“While we were at the festival, Matthew worryingly mentioned something about hanging himself. I thought he was joking or trying to be funny.”

Coroner Darren Salter said he was unsure whether Matthew intended to kill himself so was left with having to reach an open conclusion.

He said: “I am satisfied that Mr Jones did voluntarily do the act which was to place a plastic bag over his head. The cause of death was described as asphyxia by the pathologist.

“I am not sufficiently sure that Mr Jones had fully formed an intent to take his own life so I am going to return an open conclusion.

“He may have suffered hallucinations, he may not have been able to form the intent to take his own life. I also cannot rule out that there was some form of attention seeking involved.”

Speaking after the inquest, Matthew's grandmother, Nicolette Lethbridge, added: “He did not want to commit suicide, he just wanted somebody to help him.

“Matthew was actually a very quiet person. I think the noise and the lack of sleep and the fact that his friend had died in June and his grandfather now dying horribly of dementia, may have affected him.

“I think he wanted to be saved."