London, Aug 11 (IANS) An eight-year-old British boy hanged himself after he saw "ritualistic suicide" scenes in a samurai movie, a media report said.


Lewis McGlynn was watching the Tom Cruise-starrer "The Last Samurai", after which his father discovered him hanging from his bedroom door, the Daily Mail reported.

His family tried to resuscitate him but he was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly afterwards.

An investigation found out that Lewis had a large number of movie DVDs in his room that belonged to his older brother, but his parents did not stop him from watching them.

He also had a habit of playing out scenes in films, the probe found.

Lewis was found unconscious at his home in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, in January by his father.

His mother told a court that hours before his death Lewis had found a rope that was used to tie a snowman Christmas decoration. He used it as a whip pretending to be movie character "Indiana Jones".

His father said "The Last Samurai" was playing on his son's television when he found him. The 2003 film contains gory samurai customs including seppuku, a suicide ritual by disembowelment. In one scene a man stabs himself in the stomach with a knife before he is beheaded by another man.