by A mum died tragically after taking half an ecstasy tablet before attending a music festival.
Stephanie Thorpe met friends at a Blackburn pub on Saturday, June 25 last year, before heading to the Forrest Forest Festival at Witton Park. Her friends claimed she saw half of the tablet before they traveled to the event.
Stephanie, who leaves her partner Carl and young son Alfie, was seen dancing and enjoying the music but collapsed at around 6.30pm that evening. Her temperature rose to 41.6C – and her core temperature was two degrees higher.
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Stephanie, originally from Farnworth in Bolton, was deemed not to be alive, and died at Blackburn Royal Infirmary. Music lover Stephanie, who was a fan of Wigan Quay, had previously taken pills at dance events but had ‘never had a bad experience’, her death was heard yesterday, April 18.
Organizers of Restricted Forest Festival have canceled this year’s Blackburn festival following her death, and the event is now to be held in Liverpool instead. Preston Coroner’s Court was told that Stephanie, who worked with children with complex needs, was only seen taking half a ‘White Dove’ tablet before the festival, although she may have taken more reports in the Manchester Evening News.
Dr Mark Clayton, an expert in medical supply and event planning at music festivals with extensive experience of how ecstasy is used and affects individuals, explained how the circumstances leading to death arose Stephanie caused by a ‘perfect storm’. He said: “If someone is drinking alcohol your body is less able to break down MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) because the liver is focused on the alcohol and it can also cause dehydration.
“When you are dehydrated, it hyper-concentrates all substances in the blood and increases the relative concentration. If the environment is above 20C you are more likely to be harmed by ecstasy and more likely to suffer from a syndrome serotonin or high temperature.
“Once you cross the 20C threshold the risk of injury increases and there were a number of factors involved. Stephanie was dehydrated; she was seen dancing and sweating and it was a very hot day so her ability to lose heat was impaired.
“She was only seen taking half a tablet in the beer garden but when you take the first dose it saturates the system so if you take more those pathways are already working at full capacity. Multiple dosing is associated with an increased risk of injury. “
Dr Clayton explained that once a person begins to suffer from taking ecstasy, without ‘active cooling or organ support’, the chances of survival are almost nonexistent. He continued: “Once you go over 42C the probability of survival is very low.”
The inquest also heard about issues regarding the provision of medicine and the provision of free drinking water at the festival. Dr Clayton said that although anyone with a licensed premises or event is required by law to provide free drinking water, festival goers often don’t drink it when they are ‘in the zone’ and enjoying enjoy it.
He said: “People don’t drink water at festivals because it’s not easy to get hold of. Any licensed premises must provide drinking water for free but they can charge for the glass. People in the zone don’t ‘”. You want to go out and drink water.” The inquest heard that ecstasy is ‘endemic’ at festivals with 87% of people admitting to taking illicit substances in the last 12 months.
Dr Clayton continued: “It’s part of the festival culture. In the UK there are between six and 10 deaths a year and the majority of those are from ecstasy. It’s very common for me to meet people in a festival setting who say that they took it before and they were fine.”
Just last week, Restricted Events organizers said events in Blackburn were temporarily suspended as a mark of respect. The Senior Coroner, Dr James Adeley, confirmed that he was in dialogue with the organizers and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council who issued the event permit.
Dr Adeley will now prepare a report called Preventing Future Deaths and plans to send it to all licensing authorities in Lancashire. The coroner continued: “It will make festivals safer; it will not save them.”
Speaking directly to Stephanie’s friends, and those who take ecstasy at music festivals, Dr Adeley said: “If you’re attending festivals, please be careful. On the other hand, I don’t want to be I’m a total killjoy but please do it gently.
Returning to a finding of accidental death, as opposed to a drug-related death, the coroner said: “This is a case of a young woman taking a tablet that she doesn’t know how strong it is and in along with scope. other contributing factors – the heat of the day – in my opinion this was an accidental death.”
After Stephanie’s death, Holly McLaughlin, a friend of Stephanie’s, launched a GoFundMe which raised more than £17,000. She said: “On the 25th of June, our wonderful, funny, gorgeous girl was taken from us so suddenly. everyone’s hearts right now.”
This month, Restricted Events and Blackburn confirmed to Darwen Borough Council that this year’s event at Witton Park had been cancelled. Restricted Forest is now due to take place at Orrell Hill Woods in Liverpool, on Saturday, June 22.
Martin Eden, the council’s strategic director of environment and operations, said: “The Council took the decision not to proceed with any further proceedings until after the coroner’s inquest. This is a very difficult and sad time.”
Restricted Events CEO Zander Lawrenson apologized to the ‘thousands of people’ who attended this year’s events but said events have been temporarily suspended.
He said: “Restricted Events have successfully run events at Witton Park for seven years including Restricted Forest and Restricted Rocks. Our events take months of organizational and safety planning to ensure not only may the event be successful, but everyone’s safety can be guaranteed.
“As reported, sadly a person died following last year’s Restricted Forest event. As a mark of respect for this person, we have temporarily suspended events here in Blackburn pending the outcome of the inquest.
“Once this has been completed we intend to consult with the council with a view to resuming our events in the future. We apologize to the thousands of people who attended this year’s events and we look forward to to see you all soon.”
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