A devastated mum tragically found her son dead in his bedroom following what is believed to have been a "sexual misadventure".
The 48-year-old, who had carried on living with his mum following the death of his dad, was found tied to his bed in Torquay having suffocated.
An inquest into his death on July 3, 2021, heard that following a police investigation it was confirmed there had been no third party involvement.
The single man - who is not being named to protect his identity - worked in Torbay and was described as having made lots of plans for the future and being in good health, reports Devon Live.
The inquest at Plymouth’s Coroners Court heard how his mum had last seen him alive the previous day at 5.30pm when she had left the house to go out for the evening.
When she returned home at 10.30pm, his room appeared to be in darkness.
On his request, she had gone to knock on his door the next morning to wake him up because he wanted to get his haircut.
However, she initially struggled to open his bedroom door because it was blocked from the inside and when she managed to enter she said she was "very shocked" by how she found him.
She said in her statement: "I believe whatever he was doing went terribly wrong and he did not intend to take his own life."
The mum added he had made many plans including watching England play the following week, had bought a new car a few days before and had been looking forward to Covid restrictions ending and being able to do more. It was also noted he had been happy at work.
Police staff investigator Helen Pring told the inquest that the 48-year-old had always lived with his mother to support her after his dad died and they had a "very good close relationship".
However, as she had since met a "companion", he was saving to move out.
Ms Pring said: "Everything was positive for him and his mum said she had no reason to believe anything other than that."
She concluded: "My hypothesis was that (he) had been experimenting sexually and it had gone wrong.
"Evidence showed he had potentially done it in the past."
She added: "There was nothing in his room that made us think this was anything other than some form of sexual misadventure."
A post mortem examination confirmed the cause of death was suffocation.
Recording a conclusion of misadventure, assistant coroner Mike Bird said: "The circumstantial evidence indicates that on the balance of probabilities, he died suddenly and unintentionally during experimentation while alone.
"There is no evidence of any third party involvement or any intention to take his own life."
