"IT was sadly an experiment gone wrong."

That was the verdict into the death of a Hampshire teenager who died after taking a "legal high".

Adam Hunt, from Southampton, lost his life five days after he was left critically ill in a coma having consumed the drug alpha methyltryptamine (AMT) which he ordered online from Holland.

Southampton Coroner Keith Wiseman hoped the inquest would act as a warning to anyone thinking of experimenting with so called "legal highs".

He said: "Anyone taking these kinds drug in any kind of quantity is potentially walking into the unknown, walking into disaster."

The hearing heard how the 18-year-old was discovered by his mother in his bedroom at their Millbrook home but despite calling an ambulance and getting him to hospital, the former St George's Catholic School pupil lost his battle for life day later on August 18.

Earlier that day he had met up with a friend, Matthew Yates, in town for a hair cut and told him that he had bought the substance online and was going to take it that afternoon.

There was no evidence that Adam, of Millbrook Road East, had a history of taking drugs of any kind or that he had purchased any similar substances before.

Mr Wiseman added: "It is a sobering case that someone of Adam's inexperienced age can access this kind of drug without any possibility of knowing the strength of anything.

"It's an experiment I think, presumably with some idea that there might be some positive effects or benefits.

"But for someone of Adam's age to be exposed to this kind of possibility is really quite terrible and one of the major problems is the enormous difficulty in actually trying to ban substances of this kind."

However he added that this should not stop efforts by those in power to try and do so.

Recording a narrative verdict, Mr Wiseman said that this was an accidental death and that he hoped the main lesson from this would be to alert other people of the risks of taking "unregulated material".

After the inquest Detective Sergeant Jeremy Boughay said: "The concern is that people have the perception that as they are marketed under the term "legal high" that they will be safe and the point we are trying to make is that there's no process to ensure what is written on the packet is what's inside as they are not regulated.

"They are sold under the term "legal high" when in fact they pose more of a danger than a lot of other legally available substances on the market."

The inquest into the death of the Saints fan comes just weeks after the Daily Echo launched a campaign calling for tougher regulations to combat the spiralling trade and devastating impacts of so call "legal highs" which have left families like Adam's heartbroken.

He campaign, called "Say No To Legal Highs" is backed by Hampshire Constabulary, Southampton MPs and council leaders, as well as health chiefs.