Cambridge student Thomas Millward 'confused' before fatal fall

Thomas Millward died of a brain injury the day after he fell from a stairwell at Girton College

A Cambridge University student fell to his death after taking a drug which can make users believe they can fly, an inquest has heard.

Thomas Millward, 19, was found unconscious and naked after falling from a stairwell at Girton College on 5 March last year.

He is thought to have taken a variant of hallucinogenic LSD beforehand, an inquest in Huntingdon heard.

Mr Millward died in hospital the next day of a traumatic brain injury.

Cambridgeshire assistant coroner Simon Milburn said the engineering student and his girlfriend Daniella Mieloszyk took a substance which was probably 1P-LSD, a legal high at the time which has since been banned.

A toxicology expert told the court that people can believe they can fly after taking the drug.

Mr Milburn said the couple took the drug at around 15:00 GMT and Mr Millward was found to have fallen four hours later.

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Fellow Cambridge student Tessa Duff, 20, told the court Ms Mieloszyk had previously mentioned to her that the couple had considered taking drugs.

"After that, neither of them mentioned it to me again until they knocked on my door after they had already taken it," she told the inquest in Huntingdon.

She said their condition "wasn't particularly alarming", but "they just seemed confused".

"If I tried to engage with them they would partially respond then look at me, and look at each other, and say 'this is so strange, is this real?'" she said.

Mr Millward, from Cheltenham, was a first year engineering student at Girton College

After about 45 minutes the pair returned to Mr Millward's room, she said.

She later heard an "echoey bang" but she stayed in her room, the inquest heard.

'Mind-altering'

Dr Susan Paterson, head of toxicology at Imperial College, London, said analysis of blood samples showed Mr Millward had taken either LSD or 1P-LSD.

But, she said, it was not possible to determine which drug had been taken nor the concentration consumed.

She described it as "the most potent mind-altering substance there is".

"You lose your perceptions, your senses become confused, your senses of colour and sound become distorted," she said.

"It's possible to think you can actually fly. That's well-recorded with this drug," she added.

She said effects typically start within 30 to 90 minutes of taking the drug and last between three and 12 hours.

The inquest continues.