Millennium baby Parys Lapper died of accidental overdose in Worthing hotel, inquest hears

Nineteen-year-old Parys was found in the Wolsey Hotel in Worthing on August 13, 2019, having last been seen two days earlier.

Having featured in the BBC series Child of our Time, following the lives of babies born in 2000, the inquest heard Parys had mental health and addiction issues from an early age.

During the final months of his life Parys was discharged by mental health services for refusing to engage, while obtaining prescriptions for medication from several different sources including the NHS and a private psychiatrist.

Concluding the inquest, West Sussex Senior Coroner Penelope Schofield said Parys died from an overdose of heroin and prescription medication, but it was impossible to make a direct link to his death from a specific prescription.

“This is such a tragic case of a young man who’s lost his life to drugs,” she said.

“Parys was a complex young man and it’s sad that he lost his life in this way. Many people had tried to help him along the way but for whatever reason at the time of his death he was not ready to be helped at that time.”

Parys’ mother, Alison Lapper, had raised concerns that more was not done to protect Parys, particularly once he was discharged by the adult mental health service.

She also criticised the accommodation provided for Parys by the local authority, which placed him among older substance abusers who had a negative influence on him.

The inquest heard Parys had moved accommodation 21 times during the final few months of his life.

Ms Schofield said there were missed opportunities to identify Parys had substance abuse issues and said a system must be put in place to stop addicts receiving multiple prescriptions.

Parys had ‘played the system’, she said, changing GPs, approaching a private psychiatrist and A&E to try and source more medication.

The inquest heard all practitioners had stopped prescribing to Parys by the time of his death, which led Ms Schofield to believe he may have received his final prescription drugs from the same source as the heroin.

Ms Schofield said she would be raising the issue of multiple prescriptions and the suitability of substance abusers’ accommodation in her Prevention of Future Death report.

Closing the inquest, Ms Schofield said: “Ms Lapper, I offer you our sincerest condolences for the sad loss of a son. I am a mother myself and I just can’t even start to understand how it must feel to have lost Parys in these circumstances. Also, thank you for the dignity you’ve shown throughout the hearing.”

Worthing’s Parys Lapper inquest adjourned after psychiatrist becomes ‘person of interest’