A 12-year-old boy took his own life in his bedroom just hours after telling his mother he loved her, his heartbroken grandmother revealed.
The family of Ethan Bourne have been left with ‘so many questions’ after the Arsenal fan was found dead in his bedroom in Waltham Forest, London on January 8.
Just hours before his death, Ethan baked an Oreo cheesecake for his mother and told her how much he loved her. The next day, he was found dead in his room having taken his own life, his grandmother Samantha Legonidet said.
She told My London: ‘He absolutely adored Arsenal, he loved cars, Ferraris.
‘He loved fishing, and animals, was really good with his younger siblings. He Loved the PlayStation like all boys that age.
‘I guess really he was a typical 12-year-old. A typical boy, didn’t really speak about his feelings, which is what we’re finding difficult now.
‘We’ve got so many questions as to why this happened.’
The family of Ethan Bourne have been left with ‘so many questions’ after the Arsenal fan was found dead in his bedroom in Waltham Forest, London on January 8
Ethan had turned 12 five days earlier and was seemingly living a happy life with his mother and siblings in Waltham Forest.
The young boy had recently moved from Redbridge, but would stay with his grandmother every weekend.
He had started secondary school in September, but would attend for just three months as the pandemic forced it to close.
Ethan had gone through a stage of having a bad temper and staying in his bedroom – but seemed to have ‘snapped out of it’ in the last couple of weeks.
Ms Legonidet said: ‘The day before [his death] he had been cooking with his mum. [He] baked an Oreo cheesecake, which his mum still won’t let go of.
‘He had a really nice evening with his mum. He’d gone to bed at 9.30pm, when his mum had told him it was time to turn the PlayStation off.
‘Ethan said, ‘Love you Mum, goodnight’.’
The next morning, at around 7.20am on January 8, his mother found he had taken his own life.
‘He was our little angel. He’s given us 12 years of his life,’ his grandmother said.
Ethan’s mother had suffered a lot of trauma and was in ‘a very bad place’ until the 12-year-old was born.
Just hours before his death, Ethan baked an Oreo cheesecake for his mother and told her how much he loved her. The next day, he was found dead in his room having taken his own life
But he ‘changed her life and in all aspects saved her’ a family member said on a GoFundMe page set up in his memory.
Ethan’s mother recently said: ‘Ethan saved my life, so why couldn’t I save his? ‘It’s just awful.’
His school friends have been told of the young boy’s tragic death, although the school did not tell them how he actually died.
The school has said it was a ‘sudden loss of life’, Ethan’s grandmother said.
‘That’s all very good and well,’ she added. ‘But in the current climate, this is a pandemic, no doubt a lot of people will think that Ethan died of Covid.
‘But we want to put it out there that this child at just 12 years old has taken his own life.
‘Nobody talks about it, and if there’s one more young person out there that can maybe see this and actually talk up about anything that they’re heard or seen about anybody else.
‘Because Ethan had sent a little message to somebody that was quite depressing, a week before he’d passed, and nobody had thought anything of it.
‘So for the future we want it to be out there, for the kids to see this as well.
‘We never saw no signs and this little boy – his mind must have been in so much turmoil and nobody could see it. In the long term I want there to be more awareness out there.’
Ethan’s mother would like a private burial and plot for her son.
‘It’s the final thing we can give to him, because we won’t see 13 or 16 or any other significant times,’ his grandmother said.
Writing on the GoFundMe page, Ethan’s uncle said: ‘This having been such a shock to everybody has put us in a position as a family that we haven’t planned for such tragedies and ask with heavy hearts for help from those around us.
‘No matter how small, anything would be a great help toward us giving our precious boy the send off he deserves.’
You can donate to the GoFundMe page here.
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, or click here for details.