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Ecstasy kills 18-year-old after Overdose

June 10, 2003

A "perfectly normal" young woman died after taking one of the biggest doses of the drug ecstasy ever recorded. Shop worker Wendy Papas, 18, was sharing a room at the Ibis Hotel, in Southampton, with her 26-year-old boyfriend James Hatcher, when he woke during the night of 8 March to find her lying dead beside him. Dr Allen Anscombe, a pathologist, told an inquest on Tueday that Miss Papas had 4,100 micrograms per litre of blood of the drug in her body, although he could not say how many tablets she might have taken.

Wendy Papas had taken one of the biggest ecstacy doses ever recorded.

It was one of the highest levels ever encountered, he said, and a verdict of death due to the non-dependent use of drugs was recorded by the coroner.

This is very much one of the highest levels encountered

Dr Allen Anscombe

Mr Hatcher, from Southampton, told the inquest that his girlfriend of one year had taken two ecstasy tablets earlier in the evening while the couple were in the hotel bar.

After she took the second tablet, he told the court he had thought this was "a bit heavy".

He said Miss Papas had taken them out of a bag which he thought contained about 10 tablets, and had offered him the drug.

He told the hearing he took two half tablets.

When they returned to their hotel room, Mr Hatcher said he fell asleep.

When he awoke, he knew there was a problem.

"I put my arm on Wendy. I then felt there was something badly wrong," he said.

He called for help but Miss Papas, who lived with her family in the city, was pronounced dead.

Heart attack

Dr Anscombe told the hearing in Southampton that Miss Papas was fit and healthy, but toxicology tests showed the massive dose in her system, which caused her death.

It was likely she died of a heart attack.

"This is very much one of the highest levels encountered. Death has occurred at a much lower amount of the drug in the system," he said.

The death was originally treated as manslaughter but Detective Sergeant David Morgan, of Hampshire Constabulary, said no charges were brought.

The supplier of the drugs has never been traced.

Southampton coroner Keith Wiseman said the death was a tragedy waiting to happen.

"There cannot be anything more tragic than the death of a lovely young girl with her whole life in front of her especially occurring in this way," he said.