Tragedy of the gifted rugby player, 18, who died after buying deadly 'fat-burning' pills online

Promising: Star rugby player Chris Mapletoft died before receiving his A-Level results

A gifted student who died weeks before receiving his A-level results was killed by lethal weight loss pills, it has emerged.
Medics originally believed 18-year-old Chris Mapletoft, a promising rugby player, had died after contracting meningitis.
But an inquest at West London Coroner's Court heard that toxicology results revealed he had been killed by 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP), a slimming aid available online which doctors have branded extremely dangerous.
Chris, a student at Hampton School in West London, is the 16th person to die in Britain after taking the drug this decade.
He fell ill at his home in Twickenham, where he lived with his parents and sister, on June 18 and died later that day.
Chris was awaiting his A-level results and had an offer to study business at a top London university.


His death has prompted calls from industry experts to curb the drug and confront the 'impossible' body image boys aspire to achieve.
The teenager had been a star player for Hampton's 1st XV rugby team, winning a player of the tournament trophy at a competition last year.
Eight weeks after his death, his parents were told he had received the grades he needed for his chosen university.

As more and more young people seek out the illegal drug online, the Food Standards Agency is urging people to take note of the dire risks.
DNP, commonly used in pesticides and food dye, is illegal to sell for human consumption.

Gifted: Chris with the 1st XV rugby team at Hampton School, a leading independent boys school in West London. The teenager won player of the tournament last year. His parents did not know he was taking DNP

It was banned shortly after its launch in 1933 after users contracted nausea, cataracts, skin lesions and an irregular heartbeat, among other side effects.
But as word has spread of the 'fat burning' capsules, there is an increasing demand for them online - where they can be bought for £2.20 a pack.
The Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into the trade of the pills in a bid to curb the growing death rate.
A spokesman said: 'It is a poison which interferes with the normal way the body gets energy from fat. This can lead, as in this tragic case, to death from overheating.'
Kevin Knibbs, Hampton's headmaster, told The Sunday Times the school plans to work to prevent incidents of the same kind.

Tragic: Sarmad Alladin, 18, died in January after taking the drug. Sarah Houston, 23, was found dead last year

DNP, THE ILLEGAL FAT BURNING DRUG THAT CAN BE DEADLY

DNP is sold as a weight loss aid, but has been described as 'extremely dangerous to human health' by doctors.

It is sold mostly over the internet under a number of different names but contains 2, 4-Dinitrophenol.

It is marketed mainly to bodybuilders as a weight loss aid as it is thought to dramatically boost metabolism.

The manufactured drug is yellow and odourless and was previously used as a herbicide and fungicide. It was launched as a slimming aid in the U.S. in the 1930s but then banned in 1938, due to the severe side-effects.
Depending on the amount consumed, signs of acute poisoning could include nausea, vomiting, restlessness, flushed skin, sweating, dizziness, headaches, rapid respiration and irregular heart-beat, possibly leading to coma and death.

Describing Chris, he told the paper: 'He was a sportsman certainly but he was also a very serious academic too and, most importantly of all, and this is top of our list, he was a fantastic guy, much loved and greatly respected here by all of us, staff and pupils.'
Earlier this year, a survey by James Schlackman, an IT manager who has worked in a boys' grammar school, found pupils were growing increasingly anxious about their body image, and boys in particular were prone to turning to supplements to achieve the athletic physique of stars such as David Beckham and Harry Styles.
In February, university student Sarmad Alladin, 18, known as 'Mr Muscles', died after taking DNP.
After 23-year-old Leeds student Sarah Houston was killed by the drug in April, the shocking effects of DNP were addressed in the House of Commons.
Tory MP Caroline Nokes told Mr Cameron: '62 people have died using DNP - a highly toxic herbicide banned for use as a slimming drug but easily available online alongside other dubious slimming products.
'What commitment can you give that you will work across Government to make sure that this trade is stopped and in so doing help to prevent the deaths of more young people?'
The Prime Minister replied: 'Like many people I read the tragic case of the girl who died from taking this substance and one can only think of the heartache her family and other families go through when things like this happen.
'I will very carefully look at what you say. This isn't an easy issue because of course the substance is banned as a slimming drug but as I understand it it is legal as a herbicide.
'And so we have to look carefully as she says across Government about what more we can do to warn people about these things.'