A mother tragically died after allegedly taking half an ecstasy tablet before attending a music festival.
Stephanie Thorpe met friends in a pub in Blackburn on Saturday June 25 last year before heading to the Restricted Forest Festival in Witton Park. Her friends claimed they witnessed her taking half the tablet before traveling to the event.
Stephanie, who is survived by her partner Carl and their son Alfie, was seen dancing and enjoying the music but collapsed at around 6.30pm that evening. Her temperature had risen to 41.6 degrees Celsius, while her core temperature was two degrees higher.
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Her condition was deemed ‘unsurvivable’ and Stephanie, originally from Farnworth in Bolton, died at the Royal Blackburn Hospital. Music lover Stephanie, a Wigan Pier fan, had previously taken pills at dance events but had ‘never had a bad experience’, an inquest into her death yesterday, April 18, heard.
Restricted Forest Festival organizers have since canceled this year’s Blackburn festival in the wake of her death, and the event will now take place in Liverpool. Preston Coroners’ Court was told how Stephanie, who worked with children with complex needs, had taken just half a ‘White Dove’ tablet before the festival, although it was possible she had recorded more messages in the Manchester Evening News.
Dr. Mark Clayton, an expert in medical facilities and music festival event planning who has extensive experience of how ecstasy is used and affects individuals, explained how a ‘perfect storm’ had led to the circumstances that caused Stephanie’s death. He said: “When someone drinks alcohol your body is less able to break down MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) because the liver focuses on the alcohol and that can also cause dehydration.
“When you are dehydrated, all substances in the blood become hyper-concentrated and the relative concentration increases. If the environment is above 20 degrees Celsius, you are more likely to be damaged by ecstasy and you are more likely to develop serotonin syndrome or high fever.
“Once you cross the 20 degree threshold the risk of damage increases and several factors were at play. Stephanie was dehydrated; she was dancing and sweating a lot and it was a very hot day so her ability to lose heat was reduced .
“She was seen only taking half a tablet in the beer garden but once you take the first dose it saturates the system so if you take more those routes are already working at full capacity. Multidosing is associated with an increased risk of harm. “
Dr. Clayton explained that once a person begins to suffer from ecstasy use, without “active cooling or organ support,” their chances of survival are virtually non-existent. He continued: “Once you get above 42 degrees Celsius, the chance of survival is very, very low.”
The inquest also heard about problems with medical facilities and the supply of free drinking water at the festival. Dr. Clayton said that while anyone with a licensed venue or event is legally required to provide free drinking water, festival goers often fail to drink it when they are ‘in the zone’ and enjoying themselves.
He said: “People don’t drink water at festivals because it is not easily available. Any licensed premises must provide free drinking water, but they can charge a fee for the glass. People who are ‘in the zone’ don’t do that.” I don’t want to go away to drink water.” The inquest found that ecstasy is ‘endemic’ at festivals, with 87% of people admitting to using illegal substances in the past 12 months.
Dr. Clayton continued: “It’s part of the festival culture. In Britain there are between six and ten deaths every year and the majority of them are from ecstasy. It’s very common for me to meet people at a festival who say they’ve used it before. and were absolutely fine.”
Last week, Restricted Events organizers said that as a mark of respect, events in Blackburn have been temporarily suspended. Senior Coroner Dr. James Adeley confirmed he has been in discussions with both the organizers and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, which issued the events permit.
Dr. Adeley will now prepare a so-called Prevention of Future Deaths report, which he plans to send to all licensing authorities in Lancashire. The coroner continued: “It will be to make festivals safer; it doesn’t make them safe.”
Speaking directly to Stephanie’s friends, and those who use ecstasy at music festivals, Dr. Adeley said: “If you go to festivals, be careful, please. On the other hand, I don’t want to be a real spoilsport, but do it please be careful.”
The coroner concluded accidental death, as opposed to the alternative of a drug-related death, saying: “This is a situation where a young woman takes a tablet of unknown strength and combines it with a range of other contributing factors. factors – the heat of the day – in my opinion this was an accidental death.”
Following Stephanie’s death, friend Holly McLaughlin launched a GoFundMe which raised more than £17,000. She said: “On June 25, our amazing, funny, irreplaceable, beautiful girl life was taken away from us so suddenly. All of us as family and friends, even the community, are all as deeply devastated as you can imagine, she left so many holes in her life. everyone’s heart right now.”
This month, Restricted Events and Blackburn confirmed with Darwen Borough Council that this year’s event at Witton Park had been cancelled. Restricted Forest will now take place at Orrell Hill Woods in Liverpool on Saturday 22 June.
Martin Eden, the council’s strategic director for environment and operations, said: ‘The council has decided not to proceed with any further events until after the coroner’s inquest has taken place. We extend our thoughts and deepest condolences to family and friends at such an event. extremely difficult and sad time.”
Restricted Events CEO Zander Lawrenson apologized to the “thousands of people” who would have attended this year’s events, but said the events have been temporarily suspended.
He said: “Restricted Events has been successfully running events at Witton Park for seven years, including Restricted Forest and Restricted Rocks. Our events require months of planning from an organizational and safety perspective to ensure that not only is the event a success, but that everyone can be guaranteed safety.
“As was reported, someone has sadly passed away following last year’s Restricted Forest event. As a mark of respect for this individual, we have temporarily suspended events here in Blackburn until the outcome of the inquest.
“Once this has been completed, we plan to engage with the council with a view to resuming our events in the future. We apologize to the thousands of people who would have attended this year’s events and look forward to seeing you all to see soon.”
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