Schoolgirl, 14, died in Scarborough after taking a penny-sized amount of ecstasy, an inquest has heard

A schoolgirl died after taking a penny-sized amount of ecstasy at a party during lockdown, an inquest has heard. Jessica Hannah, 14, was found ‘fitting’ by her best friend’s mother at a house on Stanley Street in Scarborough on May 20, 2020.

An inquest into her death heard that Jessica died in hospital after she had spent £20 buying the drug from a street dealer.

North Yorkshire Coroner’s Court heard post-mortem tests detected an amount of MDMA – or ecstasy – associated with fatalities.

Victims suffer from seizures and low blood glucose levels before experiencing coma and eventually organ failure, the court was told.

Jessica’s mother, Kirsty Hannah, a healthcare assistant, said the teenager lived with her, her wife and her two other children in a one-bedroom flat in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

She was aware her daughter had started using cannabis with her best friend, but did not think she had taken any other drugs.

She said Jessica ‘seemed happy’ when she headed out for a sleepover the day before she died, and was going to try and sell her cracked iPhone for £20.

Mrs Hannah said: “Her death has devastated the family. She was trying things out like any other teenager, but she should never have been given hard drugs at 14.”

Amy Wainwright, who was with the two girls at the house, said that on May 19, Jessica told friends she wanted to buy MDMA with her £20 and take it ‘for a laugh’.

The next day, Jessica procured a small plastic bag which Miss Wainwright described as containing ‘white and purple crystals the size of a 1p piece’.

As the bag had cost £20, she told Jessica she had been ‘ripped off’.

Jessica and her best friend, who was not named due to her age, ‘sniffed and swallowed’ the drug and went to Scarborough seafront.

The court heard both girls immediately began to feel extremely hot and Jessica became unsteady on her feet, slurring her speech and exhibiting risky behaviour.

Her friend’s mum, Michelle Taylor, who said she knew about the cannabis use but did not suspect any harder drugs, found Jessica having a seizure in a bedroom.

She was rushed to Scarborough Hospital but was already unresponsive and suffered a cardiac arrest.

Detective Sergeant Bentley of North Yorkshire Police gave the inquest a brief update relating to the criminal investigation, which saw two teenage boys arrested.

Both are ‘likely to be’ charged with Class A drugs supply offences, she said.

Assistant coroner Jonathan Leach said: “There are dangers to illicit drugs when there is no indication of what has been bought on the street. Jessica paid with her life.”