Student dies taking legal high for his exam nerves
A STUDENT died after taking powerful antidepressants he bought to combat exam nerves.
David Connell, 21, was on course for a first- class degree but was worried about sitting his final exams when he purchased an anti-anxiety drug over the internet.
The medicine is l i censed i n some countries, such as Japan and India, where it is prescribed to treat panic attacks and insomnia.
It is uncontrolled and banned for human consumption in the UK but it has become
‘You have lost a brilliant son’
a popular ‘legal high’ for recreational drug users because of its availability online.
Mr Connell’s body was found by his housemates who broke down his door after he had not been seen for five days.
Police found that the undergraduate, who was studying computer science at Hull University, paid £43 for the drug after searching online for ways to tackle exam anxiety.
Mr Connell bought the drug from a company calling itself the Red Hat Group, based in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. Humberside Police said the firm has not been investigated.
An in quest heard that Mr Connell, from Liverpool, had underestimated the strength of the drug and died of drug poisoning.
Recording a death by misadven- ture, Professor Paul Marks, senior coroner for Hull and East Riding, said: ‘This was an experiment to try to find alternate means other than alcohol to dispel his anxiety.
‘The pressures of student life are such that people become anxious and can’t see beyond their finals.
‘Sadly, this went tragically wrong and led to David’s sad death.’
The hearing was told Mr Connell, a prominent member of the university’s hockey club, had not confided in friends or family members about his exam fears. He was last seen alive on May 5, 2014, five days before his housemate, Michael Scannell, broke down his door to find him lying dead on his bed with his mobile phone on his chest.
Constable Nicholas Munday, of Humberside Police, told the court: ‘I found a small, clear zip-lock bag with the writing “not for human consumption”. In the UK, it is classed to be one of the drugs that fall into the category of legal high.’
The drugs had been posted from an address which officers believed was that of an online supplier of legal highs.
But police said there was ‘insufficient evidence’ for any criminal action to be taken against the people based at that address.
Mr Connell’s father, John, 50, told the hearing he last saw his son when he dropped him at the train station to return to university after the Easter holidays.
‘ When David came home he seemed completely normal and was no different,’ Mr Connell said. ‘I had dropped him off at the station and he had even played a little trick on me in the car, which was absolutely normal.
‘When we heard what happened it was a total shock.’
Professor Marks told the student’s parents: ‘You have lost a brilliant son who was destined to have first-class honours at one of the top universities in the country. This is a tragic and very sad case.’