Ecstasy victim's mother makes appeal to find supplier

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jun/06/ecstasy-victim-stephanie-shevlin-mother-appeal-crewe

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The mother of a woman who died after taking ecstasy at a nightclub rave has made an emotional appeal to find out who gave the drug to her “bubbly and beautiful” daughter.

Stephanie Shevlin, 22, from Liverpool, suffered an adverse reaction to the drug at The Box in Crewe on Saturday night. She was rushed unconscious to the town’s Leighton hospital and later died.

Michelle Shevlin said: “My daughter Stephanie was a vibrant, bubbly and beautiful 22-year-old girl with her whole life in front of her. She was due to start college in September studying computers.

“To have her life cruelly taken away in this manner is soul-destroying and all I want is for my little baby to come home. If anyone can help me and my family find out who supplied these drugs to my daughter then I would appeal for them to come forward and help the police.”

Cheshire police launched an investigation after being called to the hospital shortly after 1am on Sunday. Detectives said Stephanie was believed to have taken MDMA, also known as ecstasy, and urged any other clubbers who took the drug to seek urgent medical help.

Det Ch Supt Serena Kennedy said on Sunday: “Sadly, it is unlikely that the victim was the only person to have bought and taken drugs at this location last night. We would urge anybody who may have taken the drug to seek urgent medical attention.”

The Box was hosting an event called Core Blimey – The Carnival of Rave on Saturday night. Organisers said they had cancelled all events indefinitely and offered sympathies to Stephanie’s family.

“We at Core Blimey would like to share our deepest condolences to the girl that lost her life last night. Our thoughts go out to her family and friends through this sad time,” a statement said.

“As a result, and to be fair we have been thinking about it for a while, we will be cancelling all future CB events indefinitely. We’ve had some amazing times and we would like to say thank you to every one of you for your support and for smashing every event with us.”

Last month a Liverpool teenager, Faye Allen, died after taking ecstasy on a night out in Manchester. The pill she took, from a batch nicknamed Mastercard, is believed have contained double the dose of MDMA normally found in an ecstasy tablet.

Days later two 21-year-olds were left unconscious after taking “Lego” pills believed to be MDMA and designed to look like a red brick.