A talented teenager died taking MDMA after her friends took nearly two hours to call an ambulance ‘because they didn’t want to get into trouble’, an inquest has heard.
Lauren Hawkins’s family made the devastating decision to turn off her life support after she suffered severe and irreversible brain damage ‘playing Russian roulette’ with ecstasy.
Her tearful grandad told the hearing the ‘brilliant singer could have been the next Adele’, but now her family were left to ‘miss all her tomorrows’.
The young woman, from Bearwood, Poole had taken MDMA once before in October 2019.
She reacted badly and swore to her mum, Rebecca Pearson, she would never do it again.
But on July 6, 2020, she took a psychoactive pill called 2C-B with her boyfriend Cameron Doughty, now 18, at a barbecue.
The drug didn’t work so the teenagers later took MDMA, Mr Doughty told the inquest in Bournemouth.
He said: ‘She had done MDMA and 2CB with me before. It hit her within two minutes. In the back of my head I could see she wasn’t ok.
‘Her eyes rolled. It wasn’t like last time. She freaked out a bit and when she calmed down her jaw was going.
‘Her whole body was shaking like she was having a seizure. She was just making these noises and I was holding her and trying to comfort her.
‘My mate did CPR then I took over. We put her in a recovery position. I tried to pick her up and I was just holding her knowing she wasn’t alive anymore so I said to call an ambulance.’
When asked by Lauren’s grandfather why he didn’t call her family for help, he said: I thought about it but I didn’t because I was worried about getting in a lot of trouble.’
An ambulance was called to the park in Wimborne, Dorset, at 10.36pm – almost two hours after she took the drug.
Lauren had gone into cardiac arrest and her heart had stopped for 11 minutes. Paramedics resuscitated her but she never regained consciousness and her life support was turned off three days later.
A youth, who can’t be named for legal reasons, has been charged with being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.
Paul Pearson, Lauren’s grandfather, said drug-taking was like playing ‘Russian roulette’ and warned ‘those involved will have her life on their conscience for the rest of their lives’.
Mr Pearson told the inquest: ‘Our hearts are broken by this tragedy. We have been devastated and traumatised.
‘Lauren was a very talented young lady and a brilliant dancer and singer. She was one of two out of the 70 from the (West End) audition that they had. She was chosen for the main troupe of 20.
‘That meant that on weekends and during the week she appeared at West End. She was always in the centre. When she sang she was brilliant. She could have been the next Adele if it had all gone smoothly.
‘She had the whole world at her feet. Now we miss all her tomorrows and there is a hole in our lives.’
Rachael Griffin, senior coroner for Dorset, said she was ‘satisfied’ Lauren took MDMA ‘of her own volition’.
She said: ‘Lauren was a vibrant healthy young lady who had a great future ahead of her. I hope that if any good can come from her death it is to warn others of the dangers of the use of these drugs.
‘People use these drugs for excitement without understanding the potential fatal consequences of using them and the consequences not only on themselves but on their families.’
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