Jay Cheshire, 17, bottled up his pain at being branded a sex offender and could not live with the shame of the allegations.
He left his home after telling mum Karin, 54, that he loved her. He was found hanging from a tree in a park.
He was rushed to hospital but his brain had been starved of oxygen. Karin took the decision to turn off the machine two days later.
“It’s the worst thing a mum could have to do. It was traumatic.
“My last conversation with my son before he left home went, ‘I love you mum, I love you Jay’.”
A girl accused Jay, from Southampton, Hants, of rape and he voluntarily went for a police interview on April 29 this year but was not arrested.
No action has been taken against the alleged victim, who cannot be named.
But Karin said lots of people knew about the allegation.
She said: “The rape allegation was the main reason he killed himself.
“I’m quite sure that he was called a rapist a number of times but he did not tell me.
“She accused him of rape and said he was a sexual offender. He was absolutely distraught. Two weeks later she said she withdrew the allegations.
“He was a wonderful young man with a great love of history.”
Jay was found in a park in the city on July 3 and died two days later.
He had left a note at the scene and another one in his sixth form locker at Bitterne Park School.
Central Hampshire senior coroner Grahame Short said: “I got the impression he was well liked and mature in some ways.
“But was a sensitive young man and vulnerable in some respects. He found it difficult to cope with the police investigation.”
Verdict: Suicide
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