The body of a young warehouse worker was discovered in his garden by his devastated mother, an inquest heard this week.

James Goodband, 20, was found hanged in the garden of the family home in Plomer Green Lane, Downely, early on December 18 last year by his mum Laura – in a tragic incident that a coroner said no one could have predicted.

An inquest into James’ death at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court on Wednesday heard that he had spent the evening before his body was discovered at the pub, eventually returning home at around 11.20pm.

A statement from Laura Goodband said her son was “not in a speaking mood” when he returned home and poured himself a drink of rum, which was unusual as James usually got up at around 6am for work.

The statement added: “He seemed agitated. I text him before going to bed to say his mood was scaring me and that we would speak tomorrow. I woke up again at 2.30am and my immediate thought was to check on James.”

Ms Goodband told how she went downstairs to look for her son but could not find him. Worriedly, she messaged and called him and eventually fell back to sleep at around 5am after managing to convince herself James had gone to a friend’s house.

At around 8.30am on December 18, Ms Goodband went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea – and saw her son’s body in the garden. She ran to her neighbours, who performed CPR on James and 999 was called.

Paramedics sadly pronounced James dead at 8.47am.

The inquest also heard from James’ ex-girlfriend Lucy Ackland-Snow, who had been messaging James the night before his body was found.

In a statement, she said: “We had been messaging all day on Snapchat – it was just general chat. Towards the end of the day, James said he didn’t think we should be speaking anymore because it was hard for him. I think he had been drinking during the day.

“He said he was happy at work and was losing weight but he blamed himself that our relationship ended.

“The messages were all jumbled and didn’t make sense. I told him he should go to bed and that I loved and cared about him.”

A toxicology examination found that James’ blood alcohol was 201mg per 100ml of blood – the legal drink drive limit is 80mg per 100ml.

Speaking at James’ inquest, DC Daniel Thompson from Thames Valley Police said there was “no indication” that James would take his own life before it happened but he left handwritten notes.

DC Thompson said: “They were farewell messages stating no one was to blame. Clearly this is very tragic and from everyone I spoke to, he was obviously a lovely person.”

Senior coroner Crispin Butler ruled that James’ death was suicide.

He said: “This is in the context of a number of personal issues, but there was no indication to anyone else at the time. I don’t think the alcohol put him in a situation where he did not know what he was doing. It required a degree of planning.

“He seemed to be a very nice chap and this was a very sad event. It wasn’t something that could have been predicted by anyone.”

For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit a local Samaritans branch. See samaritans.org for more details.