A TALENTED young footballer died by misadventure, a coroner ruled.

An inquest into the death of father-of-one, Thomas Marshall, 25, was held virtually at Bradford Coroners’ Court yesterday.

The hearing, attended by his mother, step-father and two brothers, was told the alarm was raised when he failed to turn up for work at a plumbers’ merchants, and was later found in a wooded area in Keighley on October 23, 2019. He was single at the time and living with his parents.

A post-mortem determined he died by asphyxiation, while a toxicology report revealed he had some alcohol and cocaine in his system.

Evidence from his GP surgery, Ling House Medical Centre, said there was nothing in his notes of suicidal thoughts or self harm and he’d not had any contact with mental health services.

The inquest heard he had sent messages via social media platform Snapchat prior to being found which said ‘help me’.

Ruling his death as misadventure, assistant coroner Katy Dickinson said: “I’m not convinced this was not a possible cry for help.”

Ms Dickinson said given there was no history of attempts to take his own life and the messages saying he wanted help, she was not convinced he intended that outcome.

“In my mind, I believe he perhaps wanted somebody to find him,” she said.

She told his family: “It’s clear he was a very loved young man and very talented at his football. I’m very, very sorry you lost him.”

His family touched on how he had a “cheeky grin”, how well-liked he was and how his death had been a big shock.

Thomas had starred in the North West Counties League for Silsden and Barnoldswick Town, but later stepped down to play for his village team, Oxenhope Recreation.

As a youth, he played for Bradford City Juniors.

Following his tragic death, a charity match was played to raise funds for Mental Health UK, while his close friend Joe Gaughan raised more than £8,000 in a gruelling challenge which saw him run 10k for 47 days straight.

The idea was to raise awareness for mental health but also to support Thomas' son, Bowie, growing up.

The Samaritans can be called free at any time on 116 123.