Sometimes in life you don’t get a second chance...
Coroner’s warning as girl, 14, dies after taking ecstasy
a coronEr yesterday warned teenagers keen to experiment with drugs: ‘Sometimes in life you don’t get a second chance.’
andre rebello was speaking at the inquest of 14-year-old Bethany devlin-Mccrone, who died after taking ecstasy.
the schoolgirl was a novice to the world of drugs, an inquest heard, and had no idea how dangerous the substance was. She was pronounced dead at the family home in greasby, Merseyside, early on July 25 after being found seriously ill.
the tragedy was the latest in a string of fatalities among young people who have experimented with recreational drugs.
according to the nhS, more children than ever are taking them – with one in ten 11-year-olds admitting to
‘You cannot build up a tolerance to this’
trying drugs. the figure rises to more than a third among 15-year-olds.
Bethany’s grief- stricken parents, Sean devlin, 35, and angela devlinMccrone, 32, held hands as they listened to a brief inquest at Liverpool coroner’s court yesterday.
Senior coroner for Liverpool and Wirral, Mr rebello, issued a stark warning to potential users of drugs, saying: ‘Sometimes in life you don’t get a second chance.
‘the evil people that peddle illegal drugs, i suspect many of them make vast profits out of the upset and grief that ordinary families, such as Bethany’s, have suffered.’
‘With this drug, along with other drugs, you cannot build up a tolerance – each time you take it there’s a risk of it causing death.’
Mr rebello did not discuss details of how Bethany was given the drug because of the risk of prejudicing a criminal investigation. Following Bethany’s death, residents claimed fellow pupils at hilbre high School had been buying highly concentrated MdMa pills, nicknamed the Punisher, around the time of her death.
they had been selling for as little as £5 each. MdMa is the key ingredient in ecstasy.
Yesterday’s hearing was told Bethany had been otherwise fit and healthy. Mr rebello said there was no evidence she knew how dangerous the drug was, adding: ‘She was a novice with regards to these matters.’
he stressed Bethany’s death was not an overdose, but a reaction that could have been caused by ingesting any level of the drug.
Mr rebello recorded a conclusion of accidental death because Bethany had not been forced to take ecstasy but said she had still been the victim of a crime. chief inspector nick gunatilleke of Merseyside Police said: ‘there is no such thing as a safe way to take illegal drugs and we need parents to speak to their children and say, “these are the risks – life-changing injuries, life-changing consequences and sadly in this case, a death.”’
a boy of 14 and two men aged 18 and 39 have been bailed on suspicion of drugs supply offences.