They’ve blood on their hands
Family’s fury after teen drinkers leave friend to die on sofa at New Year party
A DRUNKEN boy of 16 was left to die by his friends after he passed out at a New Year’s Eve party.
Jake Wheatcroft had drunk a whole 700ml bottle of vodka, an inquest heard.
His friends took photographs of him as a ‘joke’, drew obscene pictures on his face, hit him with a tea towel and poured water on his crotch as he lay unconscious on a sofa.
Despite being unable to wake him, the three other boys at the party on December 31, 2016, failed to call 999 and went to bed after putting him in the recovery position.
Yesterday, Jake’s devastated family said the group of friends had ‘blood on their hands’ for failing to get help.
The teenager was found the next day at around 11am by one of the other boys, who said he had ‘stiff arms’ and that he ‘knew immediately’ his friend was dead. The boy fetched his own father, who did not call the emergency services, but rushed to alert Jake’s father at his house on the same road in Pinxton, Nottinghamshire.
Jake’s father Carl, a former builder, finally called 999, and he was pronounced dead at 11.48am. Later, when quizzed by police, his friends all gave different versions of what had happened.
Recording a narrative conclusion, Coroner Dr Robert Hunter said: ‘I find it quite bizarre that not one individual in that house used their initiative to phone the police when they found a dead body on their floor.
‘In the 17 years that I have been a coroner I have never come across a situation like that.
‘Clearly we are never going to stop teenagers from drinking. But I want to make one message clear: please if your friend falls unconscious from drinking or any other reason, call 999. You won’t be in trouble, but you might just save a life.’ The inquest at Derby and Derbyshire coroner’s court heard the investigation into Jake’s death had been dogged by a string of lies from the boys at the party.
One of the boys initially claimed he found Jake lying lifeless but then changed his statement to say he had checked his pulse and breathing before going to play on his Xbox.
The coroner added: ‘Although I can appreciate why they [ his friends] concocted a story, I don’t think they realise the consequences of their actions. The impact on his friends will be with them for a long time. It will be with the family for even longer.’
Yesterday Jake’s aunt Maxine Benford, 55, blamed his friends for his death. She said: ‘They could have saved him. He was unconscious and they took pictures of him as a joke when they should have been dialling 999.
‘It should have been obvious to anyone that he was in trouble yet his friends did nothing.
‘If you put someone in the recovery position then surely you know something is very wrong. To me, his friends have blood on their hands.’
In a letter sent to the coroner, Jake’s parents Carl, 60, and Amanda, 58, said the ‘kind-hearted’ boy was a ‘credit to our family’ and was ‘well-liked’. They added: ‘Our lives have been ruined forever. Life itself will never be the same as it once was. We just want this inquest to be taken seriously and for no more lies to be told so that we can finally find out the truth for Jake.’
Pathologist Michael Biggs told the inquest Jake died of ‘acute ethanol toxicity’ which effectively caused the part of the brain which controls breathing to ‘go to sleep’.
‘Lives have been ruined forever’