Student died after accidential 'toxic diet pill' overdose

Eloise Parry's mother has urged others not to follow in her daughter's footsteps after an inquest into the student's death found she had accidentally taken an overdose of highly toxic diet pills containing the drug DNP.

Speaking outside the inquest today Fiona Parry said: "Eloise decided that even though she'd been told DNP was dangerous being slimmer was worth the risk. She was wrong.

"If anything it was even more dangerous than she'd been told. DNP - do not purchase, do no partake, do not please, death's not pleasant."

ITV News Correspondent Ben Chapman reports:

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has told ITV News that people buying so-called diet pills online are "playing Russian Roulette with their life".

In an interview, pharmacist Neil Patel said:

"If you buy diet pills online you are playing Russian Roulette with your life.

You are actually buying products that have been banned in the UK because they cause serious life threatening side-effects such as heart attacks and strokes."

• More: Heart problems and heroin: Welcome to the world of diet pills

A coroner has said he will write to the health minister about the "toxic and fatal" drug dinitrophenol, also known as DNP, after ruling that 21-year-old Eloise Parry died of an accidental overdose of the 'diet pill'.

Senior Coroner for Shropshire, John Ellery, said: "What is clear, is she took DNP in relation to her eating disorder, and her death was an accidental consequence."

He added: "If the minister considers it appropriate to see whether DNP should be a classified substance that would be an appropriate outcome from this inquest."

A coroner has ruled that the death of 21-year-old Eloise Parry, who died after taking toxic 'diet pills', was a result of an accidental drug overdose.

ITV News correspondent Ben Chapman is at the inquest:

A woman who died after taking highly toxic DNP 'diet pills', sent a message to her college lecturer on the morning of her death, which said "I think I am going to die".

ITV News correspondent Ben Chapman is at the inquest into 21-year-old Eloise Parry's death:

The mother of a 21-year-old woman who died after taking toxic 'diet pills' has told an inquest into her death she does not believe she was suicidal.

Fiona Parry said she was aware of her daughter Eloise "had issues with bulimia and had prescription medication but was not aware she was self-prescribing."

An inquest into the death of woman who died after taking dinitrophenol, also known as DNP, has heard she was aware of the dangers of the 'diet pill'.

Eloise Parry's GP said that while the 21-year-old was not addicted she had "no apparent ability" to stop taking them.

ITV News correspondent Ben Chapman is at the inquest:

An inquest is being held into the death of a 21-year-old woman who is thought to have taken "diet pills" containing a highly toxic chemical.

A post-mortem has confirmed that Eloise Parry died after taking Dinitrophenol - known as DNP - due to related toxic side effects.

ITV News correspondent Ben Chapman is at the inquest.

An inquest will be held today on a 21-year-old woman who is thought to have taken "diet pills" containing a highly toxic chemical.

Eloise Parry died at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in April, prompting police to issue a warning about the dangers of buying medicines and supplements online.

Officers from West Mercia Police said tablets taken by Miss Parry were believed to include a quantity of dinitrophenol, also known as DNP.

The industrial chemical, which is unfit for human consumption, has been linked to several deaths in the UK and was the subject of an Interpol warning notice issued to 190 countries in May.

The inquest into Miss Parry's fatal collapse is due to be heard in Shrewsbury by the Senior Coroner for Shropshire, John Ellery.