Mephedrone linked to death of Antoine Sibierski's daughter

Jul 22 2010 The Journal

THE teenage daughter of former Newcastle United star Antoine Sibierski hanged herself after drinking champagne and taking the recently banned drug mephedrone, an inquest heard.

Sibylle Sibierski, 18, was described as a regular user of the drug, which was made illegal in April this year after its link to a number of deaths.

Stockport Coroner’s Court heard that Miss Sibierski, a student who liked to party and smoke cannabis, was also deeply insecure and “paranoid”.

She had rowed with her boyfriend the night before she died and police had to be called and arrested her.

The inquest also heard that users of mephedrone often suffer low moods after taking the drug and it affects their ability to think about the consequences of their actions.

Her French father, who played 29 games for Newcastle between 2006 and 2007, held her mother’s hand as she wept during the inquest.

Friends told the court of the teenager’s regular use of mephedrone which she bought, then legally, for £25 a gram every weekend from a “herbal shop” near her home in Altrincham, Cheshire.

Miss Sibierski was found hanged when police broke into her flat on February 1 this year after friends and family were unable to contact her.

Joanne Kearsley, Deputy Coroner for South Manchester, recorded a narrative verdict following the two-hour hearing.

Addressing Miss Sibierski’s parents, she said: “Your daughter was clearly a very popular and outgoing and much-loved daughter and was a young woman in the prime of her life. I suspect this may have been an impulsive act, perhaps driven by her low mood.”

Ms Kearsley said she was not satisfied there was enough evidence to suggest Miss Sibierski intended to take her life.

She pointed to the evidence given by Julie Evans, a consultant toxicologist, who said levels of the drug found in Miss Sibierski’s body were not high enough to have killed her by overdose but would have affected her mental state.

The coroner added: “We have heard the evidence of Dr Evans, particularly of the potential of mephedrone, particularly in what she describes as the ’come down’ period, of hearing about the low moods and perhaps suicidal thoughts that can occur and evidence from Sibylle’s friends that some days they could witness her low moods.” Ms Evans told the hearing that samples showed the level of alcohol in Miss Sibierski’s body was 135mg. The legal driving limit is 80mg.

There was 16mg of mephedrone – a very low level – and a trace of the illegal drug ketamine, a horse tranquilliser, possibly taken “unknowingly” as it was mixed with the mephedrone.

The inquest heard it was not possible to say when the teenager took mephedrone. She may have only just taken it before her death and it had not been absorbed fully, or more likely it had been consumed previously and the amount found was residual in her body.

Studies showed the drug was linked to suicidal thoughts, Ms Evans said, with users suffering “come-downs“ hours and even days after taking it.

Earlier, Miss Sibierski’s father said she had never been treated for depression and he had no knowledge of her drug-taking. He knew her only as a “generous and happy and outgoing person“.

He said his daughter, who came to live in the UK in 2003, liked to be independent and moved into her own flat at the age of 16.

But the inquest also heard from her friends, who said her flat was regularly frequented by a number of young people who would drink and take drugs there.