Parents' plea over drugs

The parents of one of the three young people who died during new year parties, apparently after taking ecstasy tablets, yesterday made an emotional appeal for other teenagers to reject drugs.

Maria Hitchens, whose son Robert, 16, collapsed at 6.30am on New Year's Day at an all-night rave party in Heston, west London, said: "I have lost my son, I will never see him again. Please take note of what has happened and never take this stuff again."

Robert, from Upminster, Essex, who is thought to have taken ecstasy, was taken to hospital where he died hours later. A post-mortem examination yesterday was inconclusive.

As in the other recent cases it is still unclear whether impurities and other substances such as heroin or LSD in the ecstasy tablets could have been responsible for the deaths, or if the pure drug caused a fatal reaction.

Speaking at a news conference, Robert's father John described his son, a trainee computer engineer, as a "wonderful" young man.

"I couldn't wish for a better son, an absolute treasure. He was lively, comical, a cheeky little monkey. He had a bright future in front of him, he had just left school after he got some good results."

He appealed to other parents to keep a watchful eye on their children's activities.

"I know he's gone, he's dead, that he will never come back. Please, look at your children, ask them questions, don't take no for an answer."

He added: "You can't explain to people the loss of a child. You expect your parents to die eventually, you're not ready for it, but you come to terms with it, but you expect your children to outlive you."

Both parents said they were unaware of their son taking drugs.

Asked how Robert's 19-year-old brother Matthew, who was at the fatal party, had taken the death, Mr Hitchens said: "Matthew has taken it very badly, he's trying to cope with it, but he's lost his brother, and they were very close boys."

Detective Inspector Sue Hill, the officer in charge of the investigation, said until they had the results of toxicology tests they could not be sure that Robert had taken ecstasy.

Asked what was being done to find whoever had supplied the tablets, she said: "I have got a number of officers actively pursuing that line of inquiry, to catch the supplier of these drugs."

She said Robert had gone to the rave at a sports centre on New Year's Eve, arriving there some time after midnight with his brother and a friend.

Det Insp Hill said it was unlikely Robert bought the tablets at the party and may have got them in his home area.

"There were 35 security guards on duty that night, who were searching these young kids when going into the centre."

But she warned that youngsters can take tablets before they arrived somewhere, or conceal them on their body.

"If you take ecstasy, you're playing Russian roulette with your life," the detective added.

His death follows that of Bilal Hussein Bhayat, 18, at a New Year rave in Cardiff, and Nicola Edwards, 24, from Middlesbrough, who died in police custody after being detained on her way to a party near Edinburgh. Both are thought to have died after taking ecstasy.