MIRROR
A young couple found hanged on the same tree branch lived, died and were buried together, one of their heartbroken mothers told an inquest.
The bodies of Charlie Eccleston, 19, and Zaiga Gravenieks, 20, were found by a police dog in a secluded part of a wood at Shenley in Hertfordshire on the morning of November 5, 2017.
The pair, who had been missing since Halloween, had been tracked to the area by Zaiga’s mobile phone, the hearing at Hatfield heard.
Messages had been spray painted on a symbol on the tree.
A taxi had dropped them off near the woodland.
Post-mortem examinations found they died from asphyxia, while cocaine and cannabis traces were in their bodies.
In a statement read to the senior Hertfordshire coroner Geoffrey Sullivan, Charlie’s mother Jo said: “They lived together, died together and at their request were buried together.”
She said Charlie, from Borehamwood, had struggled with his mental health from the age of 12. He had shown signs of psychosis and experienced voices telling him to kill himself.
He was a talented musician who sang and played guitars in a metal band called Desert Smoker.
