Coroner writes to eBay after Wiltshire teenager died from poison bought online
Alice Dearden, 19, from Wiltshire, died in February 2020 after purchasing the substance from the auction site a few weeks earlier
A coroner is urging eBay to strengthen its checks after a Wiltshire teenager died from taking a poison she had bought through the website.
Alice Dearden, 19, from Wiltshire, had purchased the substance from the auction site after carrying out research online.
Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner’s Court heard Miss Dearden died in February 2020 after purchasing the product a few weeks earlier.
The inquest was told the teenager suffered from mental health difficulties resulting from anorexia and an emotionally unstable personality disorder, which led to self-harming.
She also had difficulties in transitioning from child to adult mental health services after turning 18.
Nicholas Rheinberg, assistant coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, concluded Miss Dearden had taken her own life.
The inquest heard that what Miss Dearden had purchased was a “reportable substance” under the Poisons Act and the seller has a statutory duty to report any suspicious transaction.
The coroner said he was concerned about the lack of mechanisms for a mail order business to make the statutory checks required under the law and had written to eBay highlighting it.
“Evidence at the inquest suggested that it would not be possible for a mail order business to make such checks,” he said.
“Reference during the inquest was made to eBay’s hazardous materials policy and it was seen that reportable poisons in concentrated form were not included in the list of prohibited items.
“In my opinion, action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe your organisation has the power to take such action.”
EBay said the substance bought by Miss Dearden had been banned from sale in the UK and other marketplaces for several years.
Mr Rheinberg also cited Miss Dearden’s mental health background and said she “did not respond well” to the transfer from child to adult mental health services.
“She lost faith in the process of mental health delivery and as a result her mental health suffered,” he said.
“An expert to the inquest concluded that it is not always possible to orchestrate a gradual transition from child to adult mental health services to coincide with the individual’s 18th birthday and that the artificiality of setting the age of 18 as a rigid cut-off date could prejudice recovery in certain cases.”
Speaking after the inquest concluded, the Dearden family said they hoped no one else goes through a similar experience.
“Alice’s mental health difficulties were treatable. She had recently turned 19 when she died, and was very vulnerable,” they said.
“As a family, we wish we had known who to trust and how to access timely, appropriate healthcare and educational support to help her recover.
“Over time, the actions of multiple organisations compounded and overwhelmed Alice.
“In the last 18 months of her life, she increasingly lost hope in her ability to recover and to live a peaceful life.
“Our experience with Alice was that the gap between asking for help and receiving help that should have existed was the difference between life and death.”
They added: “We call on online marketplaces, such as eBay, to ensure that sellers of harmful substances carry out all required checks before any sale is completed, so that the law is upheld and vulnerable people are protected.”
Lawyer Will Whitaker, of Bindmans, said: “Issues with transition of young people between children and adult’s services are pervasive and it is difficult seeing these same issues in handover of care coming up again and again, with the tragic death of a young person often following.
“It is also shocking that it remains so easy for a person like Alice to access fatal poisons via online marketplaces.
“It is hoped that the report sent to eBay in this case will go some way to addressing that.”
EBay said the substance had been banned from sale on its platform for “many years”.
“We offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Alice Dearden, and our thoughts are with them as this report is published,” a spokeswoman for the company said.
“The sale of all poisons, including the substance in question, are prohibited under our hazardous materials policy, and have been for many years.
“We use a number of measures, including block filter algorithms and AI-supported monitoring, to help prevent their sale.
“We remain absolutely committed to preventing the sale of dangerous substances on our platform and will continue working closely with regulators to strengthen our efforts in this area.”
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