Heartbroken family say son, 20, killed himself in Halloween prank 'gone devastatingly wrong'

Mike Smith, aged 20, was found in an upstairs bedroom at his home on Brierley Road in Grimethorpe on 26 October 2019. Despite efforts to resuscitate him, he was pronounced dead at the scene. A post mortem examination confirmed the cause of death as hanging.

Smith, who was known as ‘Mikey’ to friends and family, had a "history of cocaine use”, the inquest heard, and a toxicology report discovered the presence of the drug and alcohol in his body when he died. Following his death police discovered data on his phone that “implicated Mr Smith as a drug dealer”. This consisted of messages on Facebook messenger where he had offered to buy and sell drugs.

In a statement read out at his inquest on Tuesday (4 August), Mikey’s family described him as a “happy individual” who “never intimated or showed signs of depression or mental health issues.” No suicide note was found and the family said the incident was “totally out of character”. Mikey was helping out at a building site at the time of his death but previously worked as an apprentice and was “popular with his employer and colleagues.” He was the eldest of six children.

His family said: “He was a prankster and due to the time of the year [Halloween], rather than this being a cry for help this was a prank that went totally wrong, devastatingly wrong.”

Mikey’s family said his death has caused “untold suffering to the whole family.” The statement continued: “To say we are devastated is an understatement.”

DS Bailey from South Yorkshire Police said there was “some suggestion Mikey may have been threatened by a drug dealer but no evidence of this was found.”

He left the family home in 2018 after a disagreement with his parents over his use of recreational drugs and his housemate Levi Shaw said he would take cocaine “most weekends” as well as ketamine. He would also smoke weed “daily”.

In a statement, Levi, who spoke to Mikey over the phone one hour before his death, said his friend “sounded normal and nothing was said out of the ordinary.”

However, Mikey previously told him he was “fed up of his life and might as well end it.” Levi said: “This was only when he had been drinking and was always fine the next day. It was not a regular occurrence. He didn’t seem depressed.”

After hearing the evidence, senior coroner David Urpeth recorded a verdict of suicide.

He said: “This could have been a Halloween prank, possibly. However, I find that highly unlikely.

“Whilst we will never know the reason why Mike Smith took his own life, it’s clear that for whatever reason he chose to take his own life.”

He described Mikey’s death as a ‘tragedy for everyone involved.’