Sideline

FAMILY ‘DEVASTATED’ FOLLOWING SON’S DEATH

 

THE BEREAVED parents of Coventry schoolboy Joe Harris (15), who was found dead in his family’s garage on Friday evening, are at a loss as to why he felt compelled to take his own life.

 

A year-eleven pupil at Gregory Hood Comprehensive, Joe’s relatives recall him as being a regular teenage boy, whose interests included music, football and spending time with friends.

 

His mother Sharon (33) tells how she broke down in tears at their kitchen table shortly after leaving the hospital where Joe was taken. “I just couldn’t believe that he was never going to be here again – not in his room, not going to school, never off seeing his friends again. It was like a bad dream that you can’t wake up from.”

 

Step-father Mick (35) said, “His little sister keeps asking me, ‘Where’s Joe?’ and I don’t know what to tell her, because he’s never coming back and we need to start coming to terms with that, but at the same time we want to pretend forever – to think Joe’s just on a school trip, or Joe’s at a friend’s house. How are you meant to tell a seven-year old that her brother’s dead? How are you even meant to explain what dead is?”

 

A memorial service for Joe will be held next Saturday in Canley Crematorium; all family and friends are invited to attend and pay their last respects.