A POPULAR teenage boy who committed suicide in woodland had previously accessed the dark web and watched YouTube videos about a practice called 'ego death', a court has heard.

Callum Cooper, a Brockenhurst College student, was just 16 when he died in December 2016. He had been missing for 17 hours before his body was found in a secluded area off Prince of Wales Road, Westbourne, by a dogwalker.

His legal guardian, Ray Adams, had found a "shopping list" of drugs on Callum's iPad on December 15, the day the teenager went missing.

At an inquest into the death on Wednesday, Mr Adams said he saw drugs including ketamine and LSD in the list.

"They looked like serious drugs to me," he said.

"Another [web] page [showed] some cannabis from Germany.

"I was just like, 'Oh my God. He's ordering drugs online'."

When challenged at the family's Ringwood home, Callum said he wasn't taking the drugs himself, but had been "ordering them" to sell at college, the inquest heard.

The teenager also asked: "Do you think I'm destined to end up like my mum and dad?", it was said.

Mr Adams said he took Callum's iPad and phone because he "couldn't trust" the teenager not to order the drugs. Callum then accompanied his guardian to Westbourne, where Mr Adams had an appointment.

However, when Mr Adams left the half-hour appointment and returned to his car in the Milburn Road Car Park, Callum had disappeared.

Mr Adams searched the area, but believed the teenager had left as a result of their earlier discussion. He called police at 12.05am. Callum's body was discovered at 8.30am.

The teenager, a talented artist who studied art and design at college, had occasionally used magic mushrooms and LSD on a recreational basis, it was heard.

Detective Sergeant Mark Fursman seized Callum's iPad and phone after his death.

He was unable to find the drugs list, although did see an app which would have connected the phone to the dark web. He also discovered Callum had repeatedly watched videos about astral projection and ego death on YouTube.

Ego death often involves the use of hallucinatory drugs and meditation to induce a feeling of loss of self-identity. Astral projection describes an out-of-body experience without the use of drugs.

Close to the time of his death, Callum had also searched for information about schizophrenia.

Callum's birth mother, Helen Keeping, said she had met with her son around a month before his death.

In January, Mrs Keeping was acquitted of handling stolen goods in connection with the murder of Guy Hedger. Her husband Scott Keeping was acquitted of murder. Mr Hedger was shot dead at his home in St Ives in the early hours of April 30 2017.

She disputed some of Mr Adams' evidence, and said he had accused Callum of being "just like his father", Luke Dowdall.

"You had an argument with him and you said that to him," she said.

"He saw too much mental illness in his father's family."

However, she said Callum had been "happy" when she last saw him.

Richard Middleton, assistant coroner, said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Callum died as the result of a deliberate act which he intended to cause his death.

"My conclusion is one of suicide," he said.