THE distraught parents of a sport-loving schoolboy killed by a rare heart disorder have paid tribute to their son.

James Todd was found dead on a dormitory bunk at an activity centre in Northumberland after a day's canoeing with schoolmates.

A Home Office pathologist said it would have been virtually impossible to detect the abnormal heart beat which caused his death.

The 12-year-old pupil at Biddick School Sports College in Washington, was ranked top tennis player in his year, threw the javelin in the athletics team and played football for the school.

He was also a member of Birtley Athletics Club and trained and swam for Birtley Swimming Club.

James' father, Les Todd, said: "He was very sport oriented. He lived life to the full and there wasn't enough time in the day to do what he wanted to do.

"His PE teacher said that every time he came to pick a team, James was in it. He was full of life and there was nothing to indicate any sort of heart problem whatsoever."

The 39-year-old operations director of a medical company said James' death had hit the boy's mother Gaynor Todd, 36, and younger brother Jordan, ten, hard.

He never got to see a second brother, Jack, who was born three weeks after his death.

James had set off for the trip, which was his first away from home, full of excitement, in July last year.

The next day he took part in canoe training with 28 pupils from school, but hours later he was found lying on his bunk at the Outdoor Trust activity centre in Belford, Northumberland.

Mr Todd said: "He was at that age where he was just starting to have his own independence and freedom."

An inquest at Wansbeck Hospital in Ashington, Northumberland, on Tuesday, recorded a verdict of natural causes.