AN open verdict has been recorded by a coroner investigating the death of a West Somerset teenager who vanished from his home and was not found for more than four months.

The disappearance of 17-year-old Freddy Perham sparked massive emergency services searches of the area around his farm home in Stolford, near Stogursey, in September and October, 2022.

The search efforts proved fruitless and Freddy was eventually found dead at the end of January, 2023, on Steart Marshes not far from his home.

Somerset Senior Coroner Samantha Marsh heard Freddy was last seen alive at 10am on September 20, 2022, when he left his home on foot.

Mrs Marsh was told Freddy had been struggling with his mental health before his disappearance but there was not enough evidence to help in establishing a date or time of his death, nor to establish exactly how he died.

Freddy had been found by men moving sheep in Steart Drove, Steart, saw a pair of boots sticking out from a hedge beside a ditch.

Mrs Marsh said Freddy’s medical cause of death was ‘unascertained’ and made an ‘open’ conclusion to the inquest proceedings, which were held over two days in Wells Town Hall.

Freddy’s family issued a statement after he was found, in which they paid tribute to him as a ‘wonderful boy’ with a ‘carefree and infectious spirit’ cherished by family and friends, and thanked everybody who had been involved in the search for him.