A 12-YEAR-OLD boy died hours after complaining of feeling unwell.

Connor Donaldson, from Tyldesley, was rushed to the Royal Bolton Hospital after taking ill on Saturday night. He died a short time later.

It is not yet clear how or why Connor died.

The year seven pupil attended St Mary’s Catholic High School in Astley and had only celebrated his twelfth birthday last Monday.

Head teacher Andrew Dawson led the tributes to the youngster.

He said: “As a caring community that looks out for one another I know that every person within our school family will be distressed and deeply saddened by this news.

"I have spoken to the family and passed on our condolences, thoughts and prayers.

“Today, and the next few days, will be very difficult for lots of people within our school who knew Connor and we have put support in place for our young people in dealing with their grief.

“Connor had a keen interest in sport, particularly football and was a devoted Manchester United fan.

“Connor was in Miss Kahli’s form and she speaks of the warmth of his personality and how he brightened up each day for her. He had settled into St Mary’s really well having joined us from St Stephen’s. He has two brothers and a sister.”

A police investigation has been launched to find out how Connor died, and post mortem examinations will be carried out.

Ch Insp Gareth Hughes said: “This is obviously a tragic time for the family and our thoughts are with all of this young boy's family and friends at what is quite clearly an extremely painful and upsetting time.

“We will be carrying out exhaustive inquiries to establish the exact cause of death of this young boy's tragic death. Understandably the family are looking for answers and we will do everything we can to find those.

“What I can say is that we do not believe there is an third party involvement in this young boy's tragic death but I do not want to speculate until we have all the answers this boy's family deserve.”