Staff and students at Pembroke School fought desperately to save a 15-year-old boy who took his life near the school grounds, an inquest heard on Wednesday.

Luke Thomas Barzewicz-Dower was found by friends in woodland minutes away from the school.

Assistant coroner for Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, Paul Bennett heard how two female friends of Luke’s discovered him following a text message. They alerted other pupils as well as calling the emergency services.

A learning coach at the school, along with two female pupils, was next on the scene. They struggled to recover Luke’s body and begin emergency resuscitation under the instruction of the 999 operator.

They were unable to do so but were joined by two male members of staff who were successful in releasing Luke and who carried out CPR until paramedics arrived on the scene some ten minutes later.

Unfortunately their efforts were not successful and paramedics later pronounced life extinct.

DC Jason Thomas, the officer in charge of investigating Luke’s death, told the inquest that the teenager had a good group of friends and was “very well-liked”.

He was a young carer and had been deeply affected by the death of his grandmother, who he had helped care for for a long period.

After her death he had started to self-harm and had tried to take his own life. He was put under the care of the child and adolescent mental health service.

On May 16 this year Luke had left for school as usual but didn’t attend any lessons. He played truant for the first two lessons with a friend. When they parted at the end of the second lesson he gave his friend his Facebook username and password and asked him to update his status to “chilling with the devil” upon his death.

His friend, who described Luke as generally “happy and good company” didn’t take the conversation seriously and went to his third lesson. The pair met up again during break and Luke was described as “happy and fine”.

Later that morning two of Luke’s female friends went to look for him, after he had sent a text telling them to meet him in the woods beyond the school.

They discovered him in a clearing and immediately called for help.

A statement from another female friend, who had known Luke for around five years, said that Luke had previously tried to take his own life and he used to carry around a thin piece of rope and a knife.

DC Thomas confirmed that police had found a suicide note written by Luke during their investigations into his death.

A post mortem gave the cause of Luke’s death as hanging.

Assistant coroner Bennett recorded a conclusion of suicide. He said that the conversation about the Facebook entry, the note written by Luke, the remote location he chose and the evidence from his female friend about previous expressions of suicidal intent left him beyond reasonable doubt that the teenager had killed himself.

“I’m satisfied that Luke took his own life and intended to do so,” he said. “I formally express my condolences to Luke’s family in this sad case.”