A CORONER said it is unknown whether a much-loved teenager who died after taking illegal drugs would have survived if his friends had called 999 earlier.

Liam Joseph Raine, of Pembroke Street, Appleby, died on Sunday, March 6 after having an adverse reaction to cocaine and MDMA - a synthetic drug that alters mood and perception - at a house party, it was revealed at his inquest.

David Roberts, coroner at the Old Court Room, Carlisle, read witness statements saying the former Kendal College student had started to have fits at around 5.30am on the morning of his death, but an ambulance was not called until approximately 7.30am.

Mr Raine, 19, had been drinking in various pubs in Appleby with his friends to celebrate his 20th birthday, which would have been on the following Monday.

A large group then went to a property at Howgate Foot in the town to a house party and to watch an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout which was to start at 5.30am.

Mr Raine's friend, Christopher Beckwith, who lives at the house, was left with another friend, Nicola Morgan, to look after the teenager as everyone else had left. Both Mr Beckwith and Mrs Morgan admitted at the inquest that they had taken cocaine that night.

Mr Beckwith said: "Just before the fight started everyone was congregating in the living room and someone said he was 'going west' (a term used to describe someone heavily inebriated) in my room.

"He was sweating profusely and rolling his head back and forth. I thought he'd obviously had something that wasn't sitting right. I was sitting next to him telling him he'd had too much, telling him he'd overdone it, and just being there with him."

Over the next two hours Mr Raine's condition continued to deteriorate, despite Mr Beckwith believing he could nurse the former Appleby Grammar School pupil through his episode.

When they were called, paramedics administered CPR as he was transferred to the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, but Mr Roberts believes there was little hope of a recovery.

"It seems to me he was essentially dead on arrival and the damage had already been done.

"I find it difficult to understand why Mr Beckwith and Mrs Morgan didn't summon help sooner. I suspect knowing illegal drugs had been taken discouraged them from contacting the law and the emergency services.

"The consequence of taking any of these drugs is serious and I suspect most people have no idea (how serious). These are not manufactured in pharmacies and often contain contaminants."

The coroner concluded Mr Raine's death was through misadventure.