MYSTERY still surrounds the tragic death of a popular Dewsbury teenager.
Apprentice engineer Liam Love, 18, of Cornfields, Dewsbury Moor, was found hanging at home by his stepfather in February.
An inquest this week decided that Liam took his own life, but family and friends could offer no explanation for the tragedy.
Stepdad Jared Windor told the Huddersfield inquest that last October Liam had told him he thought he had a gambling problem and had sought advice from a helpline.
But after that he never mentioned it again.
In a statement Mr Windor said: “We don’t understand why this happened. Liam was a happy person. He had his whole life ahead and had lots of friends.”
Mr Windor said he and Liam’s mum last spoke to him by phone on February 13.
On February 18 Mr Windor returned home, from a trip to Milan, to find his stepson’s body.
He told how he opened the front door, turned off the alarm and put his bags down in the living room and kitchen.
He added: “I went to go upstairs and then I saw my stepson Liam on the stairs.
“His lips were blue and then I saw the tie around his neck. I knew he was dead.”
In his panic Mr Windor locked himself out of the house as he rushed to raise the alarm and police had to smash a window.
There was no note and Mr Windor said he failed to see any reason why the teenager – who he described as being very close to his family – would want to take his own life.
He said that Liam had lost his job at Coote and Hall engineering firm in Heckmondwike when the company closed just before Christmas but then got his job back when it re-opened shortly afterwards.
Mr Windor said Liam had mentioned the gambling and he knew he’d had money worries but nothing serious. He was at college and had a good job.
“I never thought he had a reason to end his own life,” said Mr Windor.
A post-mortem confirmed Liam died from hanging and tests showed he had been drinking and was more than twice the legal drink-drive limit.
Kirklees coroner Roger Whittaker recorded a verdict that Liam took his own life.
Emotional tributes have been paid to Liam, a former student at Spen Valley Sports College in Liversedge, on memorial website Gone Too Soon and the social networking site Facebook.