A wasted life: Patrick McMullen wanted to study at Cambridge

A teenager collapsed and died from a drug overdose in front of his horrified friends while they were chatting on Skype, an inquest heard.

Patrick McMullen, who had hoped to study computing at Cambridge University, was boasting about the high kicking in from taking half a gram of ecstasy and three LSD tabs when he suddenly keeled over.

The 17-year-old, who had also spoken of taking ketamine bought from notorious underground website Silk Road, was heard ‘banging around’ and then fell silent.

The mother of one of the three friends he was talking to dialled 999 but an ambulance crew found him dead on his bedroom floor at home in Puddletown, Dorset.




His company director mother, Collete, told the inquest she could not persuade him to give up drugs. She added: ‘He thought taking drugs was a way of expanding his mind. He thought himself very well-informed on this subject.’

Patrick, who was expelled from school for drug dealing, was a regular LSD and cannabis user. His parents were away on August 31 this year, the night he told his friends on Skype: ‘This is high-quality stuff. I’m starting to feel the effects now.’

One friend, Jack Sainsbury, 17, said: ‘He couldn’t hold a conversation. He wasn’t making any sense.’

Dorset coroner Sheriff Payne ruled the death was caused by abusing illicit drugs, adding: ‘It’s a very sad end for a young man, particularly one who felt so confident in the use of drugs.’