A PEMBROKESHIRE teenager died due to misadventure, a coroner has ruled.

Pembrokeshire Coroners Court heard that 13-year-old Jai Palermo was found dead in a field less than 250 metres from his house in the early hours of January 23, 2020, around eight hours after he was reported missing.

Jai had been diagnosed with ADHD at aged six and had been taking methylfenidate medication as well as medication for insomnia.

Jai had been in a good mindset on January 22, 2020, prior to his disappearance, and he had talked about 'near future plans'. 

Jai disappeared around 6.30pm after there was some confusion around where he was staying that night. Jai's mum Nia Owen thought he was with his nan and his nan had assumed he had gone home. 

A search took place locally and the family caught the attention of a police dog hander patrolling the area around Johnston. 

The family were instructed to return home and the police filed a missing person's report. A 'hasty' search began at around 8pm. With no results, a new, thorough search began at around 1.15am, with volunteers from HM Coastguard brought in to help.

Jai was found at 2.45am in a field adjacent to New Road, Hook.

Jai’s family had raised concerns about why he was not found earlier. Acting senior coroner Paul Bennett gave 14 days for written representations to be submitted to decide if a Regulation 28 Prevention of Future Deaths Report should be issued.

There was discussion about the medication potentially making Jai feel suicidal tendencies, with there being some evidence of this as a side effect, however, he had not been exhibiting any suicidal tendencies.

The coroner said that based on the balance of probabilities, Jai did not intend to take his own life and that his impulsivity – a main factor in ADHD – led to the incident which had fatal consequences, before he recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.

Mr Bennett said that he did not believe that if the police had found Jai earlier, any attempts at resuscitation would have been successful as they were unable to determine the exact time of death.