Boy took his life after looking at suicide site on the Net

Christopher Gray, 15, strangled himself with a belt after his parents told him to stop watching TV and do his homework.

Minutes before his death he sent a text to his girlfriend which said: "You deserve better. Goodbye."

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His father has called for the websites to be banned to help save the lives of other vulnerable youngsters.

Eighteen teenagers are known to have died in the past five years after surfing for suicide techniques.

Christopher, a proficient cellist, had been due to tour the U.S. with his school orchestra, an inquest heard.

On the day of his death he had enjoyed a family outing to a botanical gardens and was "laughing and joking".

After they got home, however, an argument broke out when he was told to turn off the TV and study because he had not done any homework over the weekend.

His father, Simon Gray, of Upper Dicker, East Sussex, said: "He'd had a little flare-up, he went to his room - we thought for the purpose of doing some homework.

"The TV had been turned off and he was very, very angry."

He said his son was prone to outbursts, but had never shown signs of depression. "He would get angry with me and my wife over things you wouldn't generally expect you would get so cross about," he said.

"We couldn't see it coming, but we put it down to teenage mood swings, nothing more. He'd calm down and things would get back to normal."

But two hours later, on November 19 last year, Mr Gray, 51, and his wife Tess found their son's body next to a note that said: "I'm sorry."

Paramedics tried to revive him but he was pronounced dead at hospital.

Mr Gray said that although his son had once deliberately cut himself, he had never known him to have suicidal thoughts.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze recorded a verdict of suicide and said Chris's parents should not blame themselves for his death.

He said: "It happens very rarely, and for a number of reasons, none of which are wholly understandable. The actual act is not premeditated although the mental preparation, with hindsight, can be seen to be there."

At his farmhouse home Mr Gray demanded Government action against suicide websites.

"I would like to see a ban and I would support any campaign that would protect other families from what we have gone through," he said.

"When someone has something in their mind like this, they can go to a computer and they will find sites which will feed their thoughts.

"I don't necessarily think the sites caused my son's death but they nurtured and propagated his feelings."

The campaign to ban the sites is led by Papyrus, a charity set up by concerned and bereaved parents.

Spokesman Paul Kelly, whose son Simon, 18, took his life after looking at Internet suicide sites in 2001 said: "The threats posed by pro-suicide sites and chat rooms are not taken seriously enough.

"We are seeking a review of the Suicide Act to make it illegal for Internet sites to publish material that has the sole purpose of encouraging and aiding suicide."

Critics say new laws are needed because the Suicide Act 1961 is ineffective - the Internet did not exist when it was drawn up.

Under the Act, assisting a suicide carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years but suicide websites are not illegal.

The Home Office said it was often difficult to prove somebody had taken their life as a result of visiting a suicide website.

A spokesman said: "The law is very clear that if someone is found directly aiding or abetting a suicide online or offline we would act."

In Australia, the government banned suicide websites last year and those who host them face fines of up to £300,000.