Devastated family of teen who died taking drugs at Fabric 'will use death to educate others'

John Dunne @jhdunne4 January 2017

The devastated family of a teenager who died taking MDMA at Fabric have vowed to use his tragic death to educate young people on the dangers of drugs.

Jack Crossley, 18, from Worcester Park, south London, collapsed outside the world-famous club in Farringdon on August 6.

An inquest heard he died after smuggling drugs into the venue and buying more from a stranger at the bar.

Following the hearing at Poplar Coroner’s Court on Wednesday, a verdict was recorded of death by MDMA toxicity.

Coroner Mary Hassell said the teenager had just been on a night out with friends and made a mistake.

Jack Crossley: His family said he had "his whole life ahead of him"

She said: "The death was drug related but it does not mean the person was mainlining heroin. Jack was a youngster who had had only taken MDMA twice before.

“He did what so many youngsters do without any consequences. A naive drug user is someone who goes out to a nightclub with friends and does a foolish thing that ends up in tragedy."

She said the problem was not specific to the club but wider society and that the teenagers could have gone elsewhere and taken drugs.

The coroner said she wanted the family and the police and club owners to speak together to try to come up with ideas for a safer club environment and attitude to drugs in future.

Speaking outside, Jack’s uncle Paul Allum said: “The last five months have been devastating for all of us to come to terms with Jack’s death.

Devastated: The teenager's family at court
Jeremy Selwyn

“At only 18, Jack had his whole life ahead of him, planning his first holiday, getting an apprenticeship in electrics, watching his favourite team Chelsea play, having a beer with his friends at the weekend and spending time with all the family.”

He said: “We hope that in the future we can use Jack’s tragic death as a way of educating young people on the dangers of using illegal substances in the hope that no other family needs to go through this traumatic ordeal.”

A friend, who was there on the night on the tragedy, told the inquest Fabric “seemed to be the type of place that accepted drug taking.”

Another friend said doormen had searched them around the ankles but nowhere else - and had not asked them if they were carrying drugs.

Jack’s death, which followed the death of another teenager in June, triggered the closure of the club.

However it is due to reopen on Friday with a stricter door policy.

The inquest at Poplar Coroner’s Court was told that Mr Crossley and two friends had headed to the club for a night out. He had bought some MDMA near his home.

Friend Joe Ryan, who was with him on the night, told the inquest that the music and drug culture at the club had attracted them.

He said: “It (Fabric) did seem to be the type of place that accepted drug taking.”

The second friend, Josh Green, told the inquest: “Jack was really funny. He had an attitude to take a challenge.

“We had been to Fabric before. We had had good nights.”

He said the friends smuggled the drugs into the club hidden in their boxer shorts.

Staff on the door searched them “around the ankle area” but nowhere else and had not asked them if they were carrying drugs, said Mr Green.

He added that Jack ran out of MDMA and bought some more from a stranger.

The teenager “seemed fine” until around 5am but then started acting a “a bit dazed and was not acting like himself.”

He died later the same day despite the efforts of paramedics and was found by doctors to have suffered a massive overdose.

Fabric manager Luke Laws apologised to the teenager’s family in court for what he described as an “horrific” event.

But he said the club had a “zero tolerance” policy to drugs and many new measures had been introduced including better lighting so drug users could not take substances in dark corners.

He added: “There is a lack of fear over drug taking with young people because of education. They think they can take ten pills.”

The court heard that the teenager was trembling uncontrollably and his teeth chattering as the massive overdose took its toll and later sent him into cardiac arrest.

The partner of Jack's mother asked Mr Laws "how many deaths does one club have to have to stay closed?"

He replied that he could not answer the question.

The inquest heard 82 people were arrested for intent supply drugs at the club over a four-year period.

Mr Laws said: "They are far higher than in other clubs."

He said: "If we had the silver bullet which would stop people using MDMA we would use it."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in