Cannabis played part in Newbury teenager's death

Berkshire coronor issues stark warning after 16-year-old fell to his death

A CORONER has warned of the dangers of cannabis after a Newbury 16-year-old fell to his death having smoked a “strong” variety.

David Norkett, who lived at Dickens Walk, staggered backwards and plunged down seven steps in Garrard Street car park in Reading on June 11 last year, dying as a result of brain injury six days later at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

At an inquest in Newbury on Wednesday (January 18), his friends Matthew Richard Lawrence and Oliver Farr told how David, a former pupil at Park House School in Newbury, had bought the drugs from a group of people “hanging around the shops in Tilehurst” who reportedly warned: “Make sure you don't have too much, it's quite strong.”

Matthew added: “It wasn't like I had seen before - it was a brighter green.”

The friends made their way to the multi-storey car park in Reading - a frequent haunt for illegal drug taking, the hearing was told, and smoked several cannabis joints.

While his friends began “laughing and giggling,” they later told police that David was affected the most, becoming “hyper,” crouching down and apparently deliberately hyperventilating before suddenly standing to bring on a fainting fit.

Seconds later, the inquest heard, he staggered backwards and fell headlong down the stairwell.

His friends called emergency services and the stricken teenager was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, later being transferred to the neurological unit at Oxford where he succumbed to his injuries, the coroner was told.

Recording a verdict of misadventure, Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford said: “Cannabis - we know it's out there, none of us are that naive. That's a fact of the society in which we live. “The awful events that took David's life weren't directly related to the fact he had taken cannabis but potentially fairly innocuous substances - alcohol being another obvious example - may not in themselves cause death but may impact upon behaviour in ways that put lives at risk.

“Can we say that, if he hadn't had cannabis, he wouldn't have fallen? We can't say completely but I think, deep down, we all know that wasn't likely to have happened otherwise. If nothing else comes out of this tragic death, let the message be taken away - not least by Matthew and Oliver, tell all your friends - that there are risks involved in these substances and these risks can prove fatal. Let his death not be in vain. Share this message.”

Shortly after David's death, heartbroken friends tied roses (pictured) and hand-written notes to a wooden post beneath the A339 near Victoria Park, Newbury, where they and would often meet.