AN inquest into the death of a 20-year-old man from Abingdon could not be ruled as suicide due to a lack of “suicidal ideation”.

Adam Ratcliff, of Oxford Road, was found dead in his home on March 20 this year by his father.

An inquest at Oxford Coroner’s Court on Friday (6) heard that the medical cause of death was ruled as hanging.

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However, assistant coroner Joanna Coleman said this was a “rare occasion” where she would not rule suicide as the cause of death due a “lack of evidence to show suicide ideation”.

Instead, she provided a narrative conclusion of events leading to Ratcliff’s death. The inquest heard the student had been out with friends the night before and “seemed in good spirits”.

At 10am the next day he had spoken to his dad about assignments that were due the following week and the fact he would be working on them.

Ms Coleman said: “Adam had been in low mood on occasion but had not previously expressed any suicidal thoughts.

“The evidence of the pathologist is clear that there were no features within the post-mortem examination which raised concern of third-party involvement and the evidence of Thames Valley Police concludes the same.

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“Other than expressing some concern about his assignments, Adam had not shown signs of depression or any indication that he was contemplating suicide.”

Contact the Samaritans by calling 116 123 for free or visit samaritans.org

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland, she joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

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