At Inquest into Teenager's Drug Death, Coroner Said Problem is Bigger than Fabric

Jack Crossley, an 18-year-old that died after taking drugs at London's Fabric nightclub this summer, got pills into the venue by hiding them in his boxers, an inquest into his death heard today.

The inquest, held at Poplar Coroner's Court in London, heard that the teenager, and trainee electrician, bought more drugs from a stranger inside the club the night he died, on August 6. He was clubbing with two friends who also took MDMA that night. Coroner Mary Hassell who oversaw the inquest said that the death was drug-related, and concluded that Crossley's death was caused by MDMA toxicity, the BBC reported.

Crossley received medical attention as he left the venue, and later died at the hospital after suffering cardiac arrest. The inquest hearing found that he had previously visited Fabric two times and taken drugs on each occasion. One of those times, in June, was the same night that 18-year-old Ryan Browne died after taking drugs at Fabric.

"We have all done these foolish things and on this occasion it ended in tragedy," said Hassell in her verdict. "A youngster like Jack, who has taken MDMA twice before, has gone to a club and has done what it seemed like other people are doing and it's no more than that. It's no more than doing what so many youngsters will do and they won't have any consequences."

"I'm very conscious that there are issues here with Fabric but this is a problem which is much wider than that," she said. "It's much wider than one nightclub."

Fabric has responded to the inquest hearing with a statement on their website. "All of us at fabric's thoughts are with the family of Jack Crossley at this extremely hard time," they said. "As we look to our reopening this weekend we are implementing a number of measures to protect the safety of our customers and reinforce our zero tolerance policy to drugs. We ask all of our customers to respect these measures and not to attempt to bring any illegal drugs into the venue."

Crossley was one of two 18-year-olds who died after taking drugs at Fabric this summer that led that led local government authority, Islington Council, to revoke the club's license. The other was Ryan Browne, who coroner Mary Hassell described as a "naive drug user."

On November 21, it was announced that Fabric would reopen, but with strict new licensing conditions.

That same week, a new documentary titled "Bigger Than Fabric" was released, exploring the social, economic, and political motivations that have caused London to lose 50 percent of its clubs since 2008.

Follow Alexander on Twitter.