‘No other family will suffer this’
Teenager’s parents offer help after their son’s death
THE family of a teenager who died after taking a lethal dose of ecstasy at a rave has spoken of the ‘hole’ left in their hearts.
Daniel Spargo-Mabbs, 16, was found collapsed at a warehouse at the back of an industrial estate off Silverdale Road, in Hayes, on January 18 last year, having taken 0.5g of MDMA.
He was rushed to hospital with multiple organ failure, but despite doctors’ efforts he died two days later.
His parents, Tim and Fiona, launched The Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation in the wake of the tragedy, to campaign for better drugs education in schools.
Speaking at his son’s inquest on Thursday last week, Mr SpargoMabbs, 51, said: “We have seen the sort of hole that a death like this can leave. We have lived it for a year. And in response to it all we can find to do is offer ourselves in terms of the foundation, trying to prevent this happening to any other family.”
He added: “There’s no verbalising the loss we all feel and there’s no end to the pain his death leaves us with.
“What there is, however, is a determination shared by his family, school, friends and church, that if we can prevent this happening to anybody else, that’s the best we can pray for now.”
Mrs Spargo-Mabbs, 47, called for drugs education to be made mandatory in schools. The couple has been working with playwright Mark Wheller on a show titled ‘I Love You, Mum. I Promise I Won’t Die’ – Daniel’s final words to his mother – which they hope will be studied in drama classes.
Daniel, known as Dan, had gone with friends on public transport to the illegal rave on January 17, travelling from Croydon, where his family lives.
The inquest heard how his friends took their MDMA on the train, but Daniel swallowed his, dissolved in water, at the party.
Paramedics found him slumped by a wall, unconscious and with a heart rate of 170 beats per minute and a temperature of 40.1C. He was rushed to Hillingdon Hospital, in Pield Heath Road, where medics found he had hyperthermia and multiple organ failure. They transferred him to Kings College Hospital, in Camberwell, but “aggressive” treatment soon proved “futile” and he was pronounced dead at 2.36pm on January 20, the inquest was told.
Sarah Ormond-Walshe, assistant coroner for west London, recorded a conclusion that the “fit and healthy” teenager’s death was drug-related and gave the medical cause as multiple organ failure caused by MDMA (ecstasy) intoxication.
She praised the family, the medics and the police and promised to write an open letter to the foundation, detailing the events leading up to the tragedy and expressing her support.
The dealer who supplied the drugs, Nicqueel Pitrora, 18, was jailed for five years in August last year.
Speaking after the inquest, Mr Spargo-Mabbs said he hoped to be able to help Pitrora find work once he had completed his sentence.
He said: “If I can do that, I’ll have taken a drug dealer off the streets, the only way I know it can happen: fully and finally.”