Plumber's haunting final Snapchat message to girlfriend before he was found dead
An inquest into the death of a 24-year-old man who "loved life" found he left a heartbreaking message to his girlfriend on Snapchat before he passed away.
Jake Burton, a plumber, hanged himself in Reddish Vale Country Park, Greater Manchester, in July 2022.
Stockport Coroner's Court heard that Jake and his on and off again girlfriend had an argument the night before he died. Burton had alcohol and had taken cocaine at the party and the two went their separate ways.
She blocked his number before she received a Snapchat message from him around 6am on July 9.
It showed a picture of Jake with a rope around his neck.
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A short time later, he was found dead by the dog walker in the park.
Despite having no recorded history of mental health issues, the inquest heard Jake would talk about taking his own life.
Jake was found on July 9, 2022 (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Area Coroner for Greater Manchester South, Chris Morris, said the levels of cocaine in Jake's system at the time he died meant there was no guarantee he intended to take his own life.
Morris said: "There were no notes confirming he intended to kill himself. His level of intoxication was such that I can’t say that he intended to bring about his death."
Jake's former girlfriend - they met in the summer of 2021 - told the court his mood would become "aggressive" when he used the Class A substance, but he was normally "kind and caring."
Jake sent a harrowing picture to his on-off girlfriend (Vincent Cole - Manchester Evening News)She said: "By Autumn 2021 our relationship had changed and we would often break up before getting back together. After one argument he said he didn’t want to be here anymore.
"He said he had messed up his life and just wanted to make his mum proud. He wasn’t happy with his life and often talked about taking his life but never said how he intended to do this."
On the night he died, Jake and his then-girlfriend met at her house and began drinking and using gas canisters and balloons before moving on to a party at a Stockport rugby club.
She said: "He did cocaine and spent most of the night in the car park with his friends.
An extremely high level of cocaine was found in Jake's system (Vincent Cole - Manchester Evening News)"Before we left we argued because he had been talking to a girl. We got a taxi and I tried to persuade him to go to his mum's but he said he didn't want her to see him like that.
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"We had another argument and he stormed off. I went looking for him and found him at Reddish Vale and we started arguing again.
He left and I phoned him because I thought he may have gone back to the party. We exchanged some unpleasant messages and I blocked him.
Shortly after, she was forced to contact Jake's mother Debbie Birton after she received the disturbing Snapchat picture.
Jake told his mum he loved her and hugged her before he left for the party (Vincent Cole - Manchester Evening News)Police Coroner's Officer David Wood told the court Jake was found "unresponsive" and was pronounced dead at the scene. Suspicious circumstances were ruled out and the cause of death was recorded as hanging
Toxicologist Dr Stephanie Martin found Jake had an extremely high level of cocaine in his system, one that has been found to cause death in some cases, and he was above the legal drink drive limit.
Mum Debbie said she last saw her son as he came home to get changed ahead of the planned party.
"He said he had to get up for work the following day and asked me to make sure he didn’t oversleep," she said. "He put his arms around me and told me loved me."
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