A KENDAL teenager's text messages just before he took his own life were a plea for a help, a coroner found.

Corey Jackson, 18, was found hanged at Michaelson Field in Kendal on July 17, 2016, and was declared dead at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary in the early hours of the following morning.

But Cumbria assistant coroner Robert Chapman did not rule that he intended to kill himself, instead finding that Mr Jackson died as a result of misadventure.

Mr Chapman told the inquest at Kendal County Hall that Mr Jackson had sent messages saying he was up a tree in the field and preparing to hang himself.

But evidence from the teen's grandmother, Sylvia Riches, showed he was actually at the Yeats Close home the two shared at the time the messages were sent.

"It's a cry for help," said Mr Chapman. "I think there's a reasonable chance that it is a plea for help and the help didn't get there on time."

The inquest heard Mr Jackson had struggled with his mental health since the death of his mother who committed suicide in January 2016, and it was accepted his medical supervision was 'not handled as well as it could have been'.

At the time of his death, he was in a 'hiatus' between the mental health crisis team and a community team, it was heard.

Clare Torn, of Cumbria Partnership NHS Trust, accepted there were shortfalls in Mr Jackson's care.

"There were certain things that could and should have been done, (such as) providing him with a written care plan and a Staying Well Plan and providing the family with some of that information," she said.

"I imagine Corey was waiting for some kind of contact from a team and that contact never came."

The inquest also heard from Peter Ballon, of the North West Ambulance Service, as it took three telephone calls from the teen's distressed friends to get an ambulance to the scene. But Mr Chapman said there could be 'no criticism' of the ambulance service.

In his conclusion, Mr Chapman said: "I think he knew what he was doing. It was a cry for help in giving people some indication of where he was and I think he hoped someone may have got there on time."

Local MP Tim Farron has written to the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, urging him to provide more funding to help reduce Cumbria’s lengthy waiting times for young people with mental health problems.

Figures obtained from via a Freedom of Information request by the Education Policy Institute last year revealed that Cumbria is in the top 10 worst areas for waiting times, with young people having to wait 84 days on average to receive mental health treatment.

Tim said: “I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who recently supported our campaign for a seven-day mental health crisis service for young people in our area.

“However, that was just the tip of the iceberg – our young people deserve better than having to wait the best part of three months to receive the help they need.

“The only way that this tragedy can be improved, however, is for the Government to give our local mental health trust the resources in order to employ more mental health psychiatrists so that our young people can be seen in as a short a time as possible.”