A “very anti-drugs” teenager died after taking ketamine at a party. Cardiff University law student Megan Pollitt’s death came weeks after she had moved flat because she was concerned about people taking drugs in her accommodation, her inquest heard.
Miss Pollitt, 18, died at the University Hospital of Wales in November 2020 after she went into cardiac arrest in Talybont halls of residence. Her inquest was held on Tuesday at Pontypridd Coroner’s Court where assistant coroner Patricia Morgan recorded a conclusion of death by misadventure. Miss Pollitt, who had Type One diabetes, sustained a fatal brain injury after taking ketamine and drinking heavily, the inquest heard.
Mum Kelly Pollitt said Megan had “always got on well in school” in her hometown of Rugby, Warwickshire, enjoying sixth form and getting involved in “all sorts of clubs” as well as being a prefect. When the teenager moved to Talybont in September 2020 she “got on okay with most housemates” but there was “an issue with some taking drugs, mainly cocaine and ketamine”, said Mrs Pollitt.
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“Meg didn’t like this and told me about it,” she added. “We went to get her and brought her home. She spoke to the university and said she didn’t feel safe so the university offered her a different room in Talybont Court.”
The teenager moved into her new accommodation on November 6 and seemed to like her new flatmates, said her mother. “Meg never had any issues with alcohol and was just a normal teenager,” she added. “I think she started drinking more at uni but I think this was a normal amount for a student.
“We were not aware of Meg taking drugs. She was always very anti-drugs even in the weeks up to her death when she moved flat because of it. She spoke about people using something called ‘rhino ket’ and seemed genuinely surprised people were taking it.”
Mrs Pollitt said she last spoke to her daughter on November 13 – the day of the party where she sustained the fatal brain injury. “I spoke to her on FaceTime in the afternoon. We talked through general things like where she was doing her food shopping, what she was having for dinner. She said she was having a house party that night or the following night. She seemed fit and healthy.”
Police found texts between Miss Pollitt and her friend Elise Roberts suggesting the law student had taken ketamine on a previous occasion, November 7 – the day after moving into her new flat. She told Miss Roberts she had taken the Class B drug with her flatmates Joseph Morgan and Barzy Aziz.
In a statement Miss Roberts said her friend “seemed happy” after moving to the new accommodation. Miss Pollitt messaged her on November 8: “Update on how uni is going, I got free ket last night... My second night in my new flat and I take ket... We only took it in Joe’s room so it was a calm environment to do it in.”
Miss Pollitt later messaged Miss Roberts: “I’m going to get a drug addiction just because I’m attention-deprived.” Miss Roberts said she believed her friend was joking but added: “I wasn’t happy with her taking ketamine – it worried me.”
Emergency services were called to Talybont shortly after midnight on November 14 following a report that Miss Pollitt had gone into cardiac arrest. Police had also attended the halls because of a report of a party breaching Covid rules.
Paramedic Terence Bowsher arrived at 12.39am as a man opened the flat door and said Miss Pollitt had overdosed. He found her lying on the bathroom floor with an injury to the right side of her forehead. Miss Pollitt had no pulse but, through CPR, paramedics were able to get her breathing again. She was taken to the University Hospital of Wales at 2am. A&E staff found the forehead injury was “unremarkable” but Miss Pollitt had a type of severe brain injury which is “not uncommon” following cardiac arrest, the inquest heard.
PC Leighton Brown attended the flat in the early hours and spoke to her flatmates Mr Morgan and Mr Aziz. Mr Aziz told the officer: “Basically she had some alcohol and she had something that was sold as ketamine. Obviously we’re not sure how pure the substance is.”
The friends told police there had not been a party inside the flat and “it’s just been outside”. They said they had both come into the flat at the same time and found Miss Pollitt in the bathroom. Mr Morgan said: “She was fine initially. She was just a bit ill.”
Asked about the forehead wound Mr Morgan said: “I’m not going to lie – that was because earlier on she was on the floor and we tried to pick her up and we accidentally dropped her.” He added that this was in the bathroom after they had found her.
Mr Aziz said: “We tried to take her to the toilet so she could throw up... She was trying to throw up.” The pair claimed they had not taken any ketamine themselves.
Both were later interviewed by DC Kirsty Matthews who told the inquest: “I formed the opinion there was more to what they knew.” She added a small bag of ketamine was found on Mr Aziz’s desk and trace amounts of ketamine were found in Mr Morgan’s toilet bowl.
No action was taken against Mr Aziz or Mr Morgan. DC Matthews said police obtained Snapchat footage from just before midnight showing Miss Pollitt in the flat with Mr Aziz and two other men while they prepared lines of ketamine. The officer said the footage “indicated she took it willingly”.
The inquest heard Miss Pollitt had Type One diabetes, anxiety, and a condition called coeliac disease which involves an intolerance to gluten. She took multiple daily injections of insulin to manage her diabetes.
A toxicology report showed she had 169mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. The legal limit for driving is 80mg. Ketamine was also found in her system.
After Miss Pollitt was admitted to hospital swelling in her brain caused brain stem death and she was confirmed dead on November 16. She was Covid-positive at the time, which prevented organ donation.
In her statement mum Kelly said family members were able to spend some time with her daughter in hospital before she died. “We are taking it day by day but obviously it is hard,” she said. “We are still trying to understand what happened in the week she moved into the new flat.
“It was suggested she hadn’t been taking care of her diabetes well but I find this hard to understand... There are a lot of unanswered questions about what happened during that night.”
Ms Morgan gave the cause of death as hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy following resuscitation from cardiac arrest as well as ketamine and alcohol toxicity in a female with Type One diabetes. She found Miss Pollitt willingly consumed ketamine and alcohol before her death.
Megan is survived by her parents Kelly and Chris and her sister Jenna. In a tribute shortly after her death the family said she was “full of dreams and aspirations” with a “beautiful bright smile and positive energy.” They added: “Meg dedicated her time to everyone around her and was always there for others. We will miss her beautiful bright smile and positive energy that would lift the spirits of anyone.”
The head of Cardiff University’s School of Law and Politics, Professor Urfan Khaliq, said at the time: “The loss to her family and friends is immeasurable. They are all in our thoughts and prayers. We are here to support them as we can.”
