Dorset teen, 16, died after taking lethal dose of MDMA

Reece Murphy (r) died on 1 July 2018

A teenager died after taking a lethal dose of MDMA in Somerset, an inquest has heard.

Reece Murphy "triple dropped" the Class A drug before his drink was also seen being laced with it in Taunton on 30 June 2018, the hearing was told.

The 16-year-old later collapsed and an ambulance was called in the early hours.

He never regained consciousness and died from multiple organ failure at Musgrove Park Hospital two days later.

'Triple dropped'

A jury inquest at Wells Coroners' Court heard on Tuesday that Reece - a looked-after child who had been reported missing on 28 June after failing to return to his accommodation - was with a group of several other young people in the Somerset town on 29 June.

During the day he told his friend Naomi Norris that he had "triple dropped" three MDMA pills and later kept saying "it's hitting me, it's hitting me".

Ms Norris, 20, also told police that she saw one of the boys pull out a bag with crushed MDMA pills in and put it in Reece's drink.

She said: "I asked him why he put it in his drink. He said 'he asked me to put it in there. It's alright, it's sound, it's sound'."

At around midnight the group were in Hamilton Park when police were called to reports that a woman had been attacked.

PCs Dean Meace and Stewart Baird - who has since retired - attended and quickly identified the alleged victim - who had a history of self-harm and was judged to be at risk of sexual exploitation.

Mr Meace approached the group of boys they were with - taking their details including full names and dates of birth.

Reece was under the care of Dorset County Council

At a handover at 22:00 the previous night, he had been told that Reece was missing and may have been shown a picture of him during the briefing although he could not be certain.

He had "strong suspicions" that Reece was in the group but he denied it was him - insisting his name was Jay Evans.

Despite his suspicions, Mr Meace declined to call for backup, telling the hearing "I appreciate in hindsight I should have made the call."

'Disingenuous'

Interjecting, coroner Geraint Williams said: "It's not hindsight. It was blindingly obvious you should have done more to get someone to sort out whether it was Reece Murphy. Do you accept that?

"I accept that," he responded.

Mr Meace later faced allegations of professional misconduct for his actions.

The hearing was told that he gave the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) a statement which Mr Williams said was "completely disingenuous".

He spoke after Mr Meace explained that during the short drive back to the girls' parents' house he quizzed her and Ms Norris on Reece and said he "bluffed" that he knew it was him because he had seen a photo of him.

During the hearing, he said he could not recall if he had seen a photo of him or not.

The inquest into his death is expected to last four days

When the women conceded that it was Reece, Mr Meace called in to his sergeant that the missing teenager had been in the park.

Officers were dispatched to the park but he could not be found.

When the girl's parents arrived back, the officers returned to the park where they dropped Ms Norris back.

She told the inquest that when they dropped her off they saw a "group of youngsters" with Reece bare-chested at the front of the group with his t-shirt wrapped around his head.

Both officers disputed this and said they saw no one in the vicinity of the park.

Just before 04:00, an ambulance was called to the park after they had received reports that someone had collapsed.

Paramedic Ryan Hebron-Wheatley told the hearing that it was "apparent" that he was quite poorly and he was taken to Musgrove Park Hospital where he arrived "deeply unconscious" at 04:18.

Despite their best efforts, his condition never improved and his organs began to fail before he was found to show signs of "significant brain injury" on 1 July.

His family were advised of this and after saying their goodbyes he had died the following day when he "deteriorated to point that survival was no longer possible".

Home Office pathologist Dr Amanda Jeffery carried out a post-mortem on Reece - who had no pre-existing medical conditions - and ruled that multiple organ failure which was caused by the toxic effects of MDMA.

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