THE body of a teenage international hockey star and A student was found by his grandmother in their garden after he took his own life, an inquest has ruled.

Maxim Ansell was rushed by air ambulance to Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital, but his life support machine was later switched off after he was deemed to be brain dead.

The hearing was told that Max, aged 19, had suffered anxiety about moving away from home when he was accepted to study medicine at Bristol University.

On September 2 last year he ran some errands for his grandmother Sheila Rowland, who went looking for him when he failed to return.

She alerted the emergency services after finding him in the garden of their home in Whitebrook Cottage, Holcombe Rogus and he was airlifted to Musgrove, where doctors tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him.

Assistant coroner for Somerset Tim Hayden said Max, a former student at Richard Huish College, Taunton, was "an extremely able and talented young man" who had played hockey for England under 16s and under 18s.

Mr Hayden concluded that Max took his own life, with the medical cause hypoxic brain injury secondary to hanging.

*If you have been affected by this story, contact the Samaritans at 16 Wood Street, Taunton, or call 01823-288998.