THE mother of a 17-year-old boy has said: "I just want to know why my son died."

Happy-go-lucky Stephen Ruggier died in his sleep at his Iford home on October 4 this year of what is thought to have been an "adult form of cot death", an inquest heard on Wednesday.

The trainee mechanic, who was about to celebrate his 18th birthday, had been suffering from tonsilitis, the inquest heard.

But on the night of his death he told his mother he felt better and that he was going to bed to watch television.

He was found in his bed by his mother, Debbie Ruggier, later that night when she went in to switch off his television set.

Medical staff at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital told Mrs Ruggier her son had died in his bedroom.

Speaking to the Daily Echo after yesterday's inquest, Mrs Ruggier, of Collingbourne Avenue, said: "It is bad enough he's dead but not to know why makes it a lot worse. I cannot come to terms with his death if I don't know why he died.

"It is a complete and utter waste. He was a lovely boy. He did well at school, he was doing well at college and he had got himself two jobs."

She added: "I think it's something like adult cot death. I feel broken-hearted about that. It makes it hard to accept. How can a 17-year-old boy go to bed and die?

"If we had come here today and found out why he died, maybe the family could accept it and we could begin grieving. It was to be some sort of closure," said Mrs Ruggier, who lives with her husband, Mark, and two other sons, Daniel, 15, and three-year-old Jack, on whom Stephen doted.

Sitting on Wednesday, Coroner Sheriff Payne recorded a verdict of death by natural causes at Bournemouth, Poole and East Dorset Coroner's Court.

He added: "It is a very, very sad situation.

"He effectively died in front of you Mrs Ruggier. "A fit, healthy young man. There's nothing about his habits that may have contributed to what happened.

"Unfortunately we just don't know what he died of.

"He wasn't assaulted or interfered with in any way. It was something internal and effectively something natural which we just don't know."

Pathologist Simon Rasbridge conducted the post mortem on Stephen.

He found the teenager was a diabetic, which had not been diagnosed, but this had not caused his death.

Stephen's tonsilitis did not contribute to his death, either, said Dr Rasbridge.

He added: "It's almost like an adult form of cot death."

"The best guess that we have is that there was something wrong with the way the heart muscle handles the chemicals which normally generate the electrical impulses which keep the heart beating, but we don't really understand what makes these chemicals go wrong."

Dr Rasbridge added that Stephen's tissues could be re-tested in the future if genetic tests become available.

First published: November 18