Teenager overdosed after Army rejection

♦a grammar school boy, who had his hopes of joining the Army dashed by a peanut allergy, died when he turned to drugs, an inquest heard.

Thom Walker, 19, applied to join the Army after leaving Maidstone Grammar School but was rejected because of his allergy to peanuts.

An inquest in Maidstone heard that after this he turned to drugs and was later found collapsed at his parents’ house in the town on April 7.

He was found by his father, but died the next day in hospital.

William Richards, a friend, said Mr Walker had “dreamed of joining the Royal Engineers.”