A 20-year-old student died of a heart attack after taking a fatal dose of ecstasy with her boyfriend at a nightclub in London, an inquest heard
Taylor Mae Woodard, an aspiring showbiz journalist studying at Bournemouth University, shared half a gram of MDMA with her boyfriend, Alex Rickett, at Plan B nightclub in Brixton.
After returning to Mr Rickett’s home in Worcester Park, south-west London, in the early hours of March 9, she collapsed and went into cardiac arrest.
Despite Mr Rickett’s best efforts to save her, Miss Woodard was rushed to Kingston Hospital and died at 6.22am.
The inquest heard that she had taken the Class A drug every two to three weeks, and police found an empty stash of white powder in her pocket, which she may have taken without telling her boyfriend.
West London Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield said a toxicology report discovered Tayla had fatal levels of ecstasy in her blood when she died.
He said: ‘Alex Rickett was going out with Tayla on a night out and they took drugs bought by Tayla from her home in Bournemouth at the Plan B nightclub in Brixton.
‘They travelled back from the nightclub. Tayla collapsed and lost consciousness very soon afterwards.
‘MDMA she had taken was present in her system at level associated with death. She had intended to use MDMA, which is not unusual with young people.
‘Unfortunately on this occasion it tragically had fatal consequences. Tayla died of MDMA toxicity, an accidental death.’
Her father Russell Woodard, who was at the inquest with his wife, Julia, told the court: ‘She confessed to me in her first year of university [that] she had taken drugs. At the time I did research.
‘I spoke to her and said it was not a good idea to do it again because she did not know what was in it. I think she thought it was better not to tell me in future.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Tayla had taken the drug occasionally, I’m surprised to hear she took it every two to three weeks.’
Mr Rickett wept as he explained how they had spent the day together, drinking a small amount of vodka and wine before going out to the nightclub with a couple of his friends at around 11pm.
Miss Woodard brought a gram of brown MDMA with her and the couple shared half of it in the toilets.
They left the club at around 3.30am and headed back to his house in Tamesis Gardens, in Worcester Park, south-west London.
He said: ‘I had done less than usual and she had taken less MDMA than usual because of the amount left in the bag. We did it every two to three weeks.
‘She was normal, she seemed normal. We were cleaning our teeth in the bathroom, she was sitting on the bath then she collapsed into the bath.’
‘I picked her up and laid her on the bathroom floor. I woke my brother and called the ambulance, I can’t remember in which order.
‘I rang to ask when the ambulance was coming because her nose was turning purple. They told me how to do mouth to mouth.
‘The ambulance came and the paramedics did CPR and then they took her away.’
Dr Philip Halliday, from Kingston Hospital, said he had been told she had taken 250mg of MDMA with alcohol.
Pathologist Dr Robert Chapman, who carried out the post-mortem examination, described Miss Woodard as fit and healthy.
He said: ‘The toxicology report showed she had high levels of MDMA, 1.64mg per litre in her blood, but the level of ethanol alcohol was not particularly high.’
The fatal level of MDMA is anything above 0.1mg.
Detective Constable Ian Moody, who helped perform the investigation into her death, said Mr Rickett had given the rest of the MDMA to police for analysis and nothing unusual was found in it.
He added: ‘I went back to Tamesis Gardens, where she collapsed, and found the denim jacket she had been wearing in the bathroom.
‘I searched the jacket and found a small snap bag containing remnants of white powder, which was analysed and found to be MDMA as well.
‘Alex told me he had not known about the second bag.’
Mr Woodard has since raised almost £1,000 in his girlfriend’s memory, with donations going to mental health charity Mind.
This post originally appeared on dailymail.co.uk