A 12-year-old boy was found hanged with his school tie after his teacher caught him with a packet of cigarettes.

David Arnett was caught with the cigarettes in his pocket by his form tutor, who gave him 24 hours to tell his parents before the school contacted them, an inquest heard.

The schoolboy finished off the school day before walking to his home in Longland Road, Eastbourne.

While his father cooked dinner downstairs, David went up to his room and attached his school tie to the outside door handle of the bedroom.

He was found shortly afterwards by his parents when he failed to come down for dinner.

David's father Robert Arnett described the moment he found his only child's body.

He said: "I began to go upstairs. At the top there is a barrier rail. As I was walking up the stairs through the rails I saw David and he looked like he was kneeling down."

Mr Arnett fought back tears as he told the inquest at Eastbourne: "He was probably semi-kneeling.

"I thought he was asleep. He was leaning against the door frame.

"The tie was over the door handle. My wife realised there was something wrong and it was my wife who actually lifted him."

David was taken to Eastbourne General but was pronounced dead an hour later at 6.20pm.

David had gone to school as usual on December 15 last year. There had been a singing competition which he had been very excited about.

His form tutor at Cavendish School, Eastbourne, Joanna-Clea Burns said: "David was full of life and a practical joker. He was very lively and always wanted to be the centre of attention."

She said David had taken part in the singing competition during registration at about 9am, entertaining the class with his Elvis impersonation.

She said he thought the class had won and ran into a couple of other classrooms to spread the news. But the problems started later in the day when David was late for the afternoon registration.

She said: "When children are late they have to wait behind my desk until I finish the registration and tell me why they are late.

"David was five minutes late and when I asked why he said he had been on the top field.

"I could smell cigarette smoke on him. I asked him to show me what was in his pocket. It was a packet of ten Mayfair cigarettes and a lighter."

She said David denied he had been smoking and said he was looking after the cigarettes for a friend. She told him to come back in an hour.

When he returned he was crying and she gave him a lecture on the dangers of smoking. She also gave him 24 hours to tell his parents before she contacted them.

She told the inquest she did not think it was Cavendish practice to give pupils such a warning but it was not unusual.

By the time he left the room he had stopped crying and a group of friends were waiting outside.

A friend said in a statement read out at the hearing that two boys were laughing at him as he left the teacher's office.

The statement continued: "I know he doesn't smoke and he was still crying. David said the pain was like having a knife in his stomach. He started talking about it because his uncle or grandfather died of lung cancer so why would he smoke?

"David said if his family found out they would be ashamed of him. He started talking about killing himself."

Mr Arnett, who described his son as "a very outgoing boy" who loved sport and playing the drums, said he noticed nothing unusual about David's behaviour that afternoon.

He and David shared a joke before his son went upstairs to wrap his mother's Christmas present. The last time he saw David alive was at 4.50pm when his son came downstairs to see what was for dinner.

Recording an open verdict, coroner Alan Craze said: "It is a possible suicide."