Shop still selling legal high despite promises to stop after teen nearly died

Shopkeeper Jaz Singh pledged to take legal high Sensate off his shelves after it left 14-year-old Connor Holloway fighting for his life.

But a Daily Echo investigation has found that it is still on sale at the Southampton shop where Connor bought it – much to the horror of his mum.

Our undercover reporter was able to buy Sensate at Up in Smoke in Bitterne just days after boss Jaz Singh told us he would not sell it any more.

Our reporter was sold a 3g packet of the drug – which was kept under the counter – and discovered another potentially deadly legal high which almost killed another teen in Kent is also available to buy there.

When the Daily Echo confronted Mr Singh later, he told us he had done nothing wrong and claimed he had never promised to stop selling Sensate completely.

As reported, Connor collapsed seconds after experimenting with the drug with a friend on October 5, and was rushed to Southampton General Hospital.

He lay unconscious for nearly 12 hours in the hospital’s high dependency unit amid fears he may stop breathing at any moment and he suffered fits and his heart rate plummeted.

His mum Emma, from Maybush, called for all legal highs to be banned before Mr Singh promised to remove it from his shelves.

When our reporter arrived at the store in Bitterne Road the shop was closed and a note in the window instructed anyone wanting to buy anything there to visit Premier newsagents – also run by Jaz Singh – further down the road.

When he told staff there he wanted to buy something from Up in Smoke a woman quietly asked him if he had identification before walking him back up the road. On the way she asked him about identification again, saying it was “very important”.

After opening the store he told her he was looking for legal highs and she unlocked a glass cabinet where there was an array of colourful packets.

He asked for some Sensate and she queried the name before offering to sell him three grams for £29.99.

Her eyes darted about before scurrying to the counter, pulling out a blue plastic bag and quietly handing a packet to him before hiding the bag away again.

But the legal high Exodus Damnation was readily available on the shelf and our reporter bought three grams for the same price.

It nearly killed teenager Matt Ford, 17, from Whitstable when he suffered a heart attack and started foaming at the mouth after taking the drug in his room on October 7 – just two days after Connor’s ordeal.

When our reporter asked whether they sold AMT (alphamethyltryptamine), a drug which killed two teenagers and a 32- year-old man from Hampshire in the last year, she said she did not know about it.

The woman checked his identification before taking his money, explaining they had got in trouble recently because a one of their previous customers was just 17, despite looking older.

Both drugs are labelled as herbal incense and the packaging warns that they are not for human consumption.

Other substances on sale include Salvia Divinorum – a potent herb with hallucinogenic side-effects which the Government considered banning in 2009 – and Go Caine which mimics the effects of cocaine.

Shop owner denies any wrongdoing

THE owner of Up in Smoke says he has done nothing wrong – despite pledging to take legal high Sensate off the shelves after it nearly claimed the life of Connor Holloway.

Jaz Singh claims he never said he would take if off the shelves completely.

He said: “It must have been the last of the stock. It is not banned.

“I said to the Echo I was going to speak to my business partner. We are not selling it any more, it was the last of the stock.

"The 14-year-old should not have been taking those things anyway. It’s not for human consumption.

“I have been selling it for years and nothing has happened.”

Only one shop in five tested stocked legal highs

THE Daily Echo’s undercover reporter tried to buy legal highs at five other shops across Southampton.

Only one of the five approached sold the drugs – with other staff members unaware of anywhere stocking them elsewhere in the city.

In Lucid, East Street, packages of the hypnotic herb Salvia Divinorum were on show in a row of glass cabinets next to scores of pipes, bongs and rolling papers.

When our reporter inquired about Sensate, the man behind the counter told him they stopped selling pills, powders or potions about three years ago.

Now the store’s multiple warning signs declared Salvia Divinorum is not for human consumption and that staff would refuse to serve it to anyone under 18 or anyone they suspected would consume it.

Our reporter bought one gram of the weakest strain – for £12.95 – before inquiring about how it compared to the more powerful strains on sale.

But the shop worker stressed he could not give advice because it was “not for human consumption” and suggested the reporter look for information online.

Our undercover reporter also bought a 10- millilitre bottle of one of three types of amyl nitrate sold called Liquid Gold priced at £5.

The shop worker denied knowing anywhere else to buy legal highs in Southampton, suggesting our reporter went to Bournemouth.

When the Daily Echo later contacted Lucid, a member of staff who refused to give their name denied that Salvia Divinorum or Liquid Gold were legal highs. He said: “All of our smoking  products have an over-18s policy as required by law.

“In terms of other businesses selling legal highs they do have warnings saying they are not for human consumption and people should take heed of those warnings.”

Mum of teen who took drug appalled at shop’s tactics

THE mum of a teenager who nearly died after taking a legal high today slammed the shopkeeper he bought it from for still selling it under the counter in his shop.

Emma Holloway had the heartbreaking ordeal of watching her 14-year-old son fighting for his life in Southampton General Hospital after taking the drug Sensate.

Thankfully, he has since made a full recovery although she told last night how the ordeal has “scared the living daylights out of him”.

Yesterday Emma, 33, said she was appalled that the drug was still in circulation and made a renewed plea for it to be banned.

She said: “It’s absolutely disgusting. He promised to take it off the shelves, so to sell it under the counter is really bad.

“It only takes someone to take a little more than Connor and they would be dead.

“At first I didn’t blame the shopkeeper but now they know the harm it does, it is so irresponsible. Would it have to take someone to die for them to realise?

“The scary thing is that there are thousands of products that could do the same thing and if you take one off the shelves a new one comes in. It’s a vicious circle.”