Schoolgirl found hanging by her twin brother died after a stunt to shock her mum went wrong

Emily Gorman had a game with her new team which clashed with a family wedding, so her mother was debating whether to let her play.

Then Emily annoyed her mother by letting her brother's dinner burn when she was supposed to be watching it.

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Her mother, Jackie King, reacted by deciding to stop her playing.

The schoolgirl was said to be anxious about letting down her team-mates and intended to make a dramatic gesture of defiance, an inquest heard.

Her twin brother Joseph found her hanging from the top bunk bed in her room at their home in Plymouth. Attempts to revive her failed and she died in hospital three days later – on the day of the football match and the wedding.

Yesterday, an inquest heard how Emily was sent to bed early after a row with her mother over burning her younger brother Liam's dinner as she was doing her homework.

Mrs King called for her shortly afterwards and, on hearing no reply, sent Joseph to check on his sister.

He found her suspended from the bed, her feet barely one inch above the floor.

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Hearing Joseph's cry for help, Mrs King ran to the room, cut her daughter down and tried to resuscitate her.

She died three days later after suffering brain damage and organ failure – at the same hospital where her mother works as a medical secretary.

Mrs King told the inquest of the moments leading up to the tragedy, when Emily had burned her brother's dinner and thrown it in the bin.

"I was cross and told her to get out of the room," she recalled.

"Isaid 'forget about football on Saturday – you are not going to be able to play'.

"I told her to ring the manager and tell him she was sorry but could not play football because of a wedding.

"I did not want to lose my temper so I told her to get out.

"She was upset, which I expected her to be because I knew she was looking forward to football."

Mrs King continued: "I honestly don't believe she ever meant to kill herself – that's not the person she was.

"She just smiled and laughed her way through life. She was so very very happy.

"In my heart I think it was a case of 'I'll do something to make mum sad' which would make me say 'don't be daft, you can go to football'.

"She did not understand the consequences and think it could happen so quickly."

Emily's kidneys were transplanted and one of her heart valves was given to a four-month-old boy who had a congenital heart defect.

Recording an accident verdict, Plymouth coroner Robert Newman said Emily had died as the result of a "dramatic gesture" that had gone disastrously wrong.