THE FATHER of a gifted student found his son hanging from a stereo speaker bracket in his bedroom, an inquest heard.

James Bowe, 20, of Manor Park Avenue, Princes Risborough, was reading management studies at Nottingham University when he became stressed about his academic career.

His father David Bowe, said: "He came home for Christmas and we all had a very good Christmas together. He returned to Nottingham in January and was full of beans."

Mr Bowe added that his son, a former Aylesbury Grammar School pupil, had passed all the January exams but had become worried about some new coursework modules he had started.

Mr Bowe, who has another son, 17-year-old William, said the family had received a phone call from the mother of his son's girlfriend, saying that James was behaving strangely.

Mr Bowe continued: "We went up the next day, February 10, to have lunch with him. We talked and he was very quiet, he went on and on about his coursework and the fact that he could not understand it."

The family went back up to see James the following week to take him home for the weekend.

When they arrived there, Mr Bowe said that James was "in a terrible state." His speech was incoherent and he was continually rubbing his hands together.

James' condition deteriorated so much that the family had to bring him home to Princes Risborough and he was referred to the Tindal Centre, a mental health centre in Aylesbury.

Mr Bowe said: "He kept going over and over that he had let everybody down. His family, friends, school and university."

The inquest heard on Friday that James had an appointment at the centre on April 2 - the morning of his death.

Mr Bowe said: "I took breakfast up at 9.10am and he was in his bedroom standing by his desk. James smiled at me as I left the room.

"I got on with getting myself ready and about ten minutes later realised that James was unusually quiet. I looked in his room but could not see him.

"Neither I nor my wife could find him. We searched the local area and started to become worried. I looked in his room again and wondered if he may have fallen between the desk and bed.

"As I turned around I saw James. He was hanging behind the bedroom door. He had a belt around his neck which was affixed to a stereo speaker."

Recording an open verdict, Coroner Richard Hulett, said: "That he did this by his own hand I have no doubt."

He said James had done this on the spur of the moment and may not have been aware of how quickly this could result in death.