A MATURE student died after taking an overdose of a party drug dubbed Dr Death.

Lance Howard, 44, was found dead on the floor of his home in Longacre Rise, Chineham, on May 3 this year.

An inquest at Alton Magistrates' Court heard the master's degree student had taken paramethoxyamphetamine (PMA), an ecstasy-like drug which can cause extremely high temperatures, convulsions and hallucinations.

Tablets containing the drug have been linked to the deaths of seven young people in the west of Scotland in the past two months, and four in Cheshire earlier this year.

On Saturday, July 20, a 15-year-old girl called Martha Fernback collapsed and died in an Oxford park, after she took a tablet believed to be PMA. PMA is referred to as Pink Ecstasy, Dr Death or Pink McDonalds.

Mr Howard's wife Liz told the inquest that she got home from Basingstoke hospital, where she worked, on Thursday, May 2 to find the front door to their home had been locked from the inside.

She said: “I could not get hold of my husband on the phone. I went backwards and forwards from the car and tried kicking the door down. He had locked me out before but I always got in eventually.”

Mrs Howard added she was then called back to work that night, and after sleeping in her car, called a locksmith to let her into the house.

She said: “My husband was on the floor of the main living room just in front of the sofa. The cushions were off the sofa and on the floor, and it was a mess.”

Mr Howard was already dead when his wife entered the room. The police were called to the first floor flat but could not find any sign of foul play.

Detective Sergeant Greg Wilcox, from Basingstoke police station, told the inquest: “The only conclusion I could come up with was that he had some kind of seizure whilst in the lounge with the door locked.”

Mrs Howard said her husband of one year had taken PMA before but was not a regular user. She added he had been under pressure from studying while working and trying to buy a house.

Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, North East Hampshire coroner Andrew Bradley said he thought Mr Howard had taken the drug recreationally, and not in an attempt on his own life.

He said: “It is a relief from pressure, if anything. Against that background, it is an appalling state of affairs and a matter of great sadness.”

The drug known as Dr Death has come to the nation's attention this year after the deaths of several young people who are believed to have taken it.

As well as the deaths in the west of Scotland, Cheshire and Oxford, PMA has been linked to the sudden deaths of two people in their 20s and 30s in Northern Ireland.

The police in Northern Ireland believe users and dealers are taking and selling tablets they believe to be ecstasy, which actually contain the more potent PMA.

One tablet of PMA can cost as little as £3 and is said to give users an energy buzz as well as hallucinations.

But side-effects include increased blood pressure and pulse rate, as well as a rapid increase in body temperature that can lead to organ failure and death.

It takes longer to take effect than ecstasy, so some users take more pills because they think the first one has not worked.

In June this year, the Hampshire Drug and Alcohol Team warned drug users not to take a yellow tablet with a star which was said to contain PMA.

PMA is already a Class A drug, and possession can lead to a prison sentence of up to seven years.