DRUG TESTS ON YOUTH WHO DIED AT CLUB

FURTHER scientific tests are to be carried out to establish the cause of
the death of a 16-year-old who collapsed after apparently taking the drug
Ecstasy.

A post-mortem examination on Thomas Skillcorn, from Gateshead, failed to
find a cause for the heart attack he suffered outside the After Dark club
in South Shields on Tyneside. Friends who helped him out of the club early
on Sunday morning when he felt ill said he had taken the drug, but
yesterday the club manager rejected any suggestion that Ecstasy was on sale
inside his premises. Toxicology tests are being carried out.

Detective Inspector Peter Farrell, of South Shields CID, said: "We know
Thomas went to the club with three friends just before midnight. At around
4am he became visibly unwell and at 6am he went outside and an ambulance
was called.

"Witnesses told the paramedics he had taken Ecstasy but until the results
of blood tests come back we won't know for sure. We are keen to speak to
whoever called the ambulance and anyone who was in the club on Saturday."

David Mallin, the club manager, said: "I am devastated by what has happened
and that it happened outside my club. My sympathy goes to this young man's
family. But if it is an Ecstasy-related death he definitely did not buy it
here. I am certain of that.

"This is a popular, trouble-free club. I am constantly liaising with police
to make sure it stays that way. Everyone who comes in here is searched and
there are cameras."

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski