Student took pills after payday loan debt spiralled

Courtney Mitchell Lewis worked as a barman while studying at Swansea University but decided to use a pay-day loan company to borrow £100. Credit: Wales News Service

A Swansea University student committed suicide after taking out a pay-day loan when his £100 debt shot up to £800 in just three months.

An inquest heard that Physics undergraduate Courtney Mitchell Lewis, 21, swallowed an overdose of slimming pills after his loan spiralled.

He then posted a message to friends on Facebook saying: "I don't want to die, I think it is too late."

His friends called the emergency services and he was taken to A&E, but the inquest heard it was too late to save him.

Swansea coroner Colin Phillips said Courtney took the tablets as a cry for help, rather than a serious suicide attempt.

The pills contained dinitrophenol (DNP) and are deemed as unfit for human consumption but are used by bodybuilders and people trying to lose weight.