A drug overdose which killed a Winchester student was the largest recorded, a Winchester inquest heard this week.

The death, on February 29th, of Jack Elliott (17), who swallowed at least 11 Ecstasy tablets, was attributed to "the recklessness of youth" by coroner, Grahame Short, when he recorded a verdict of accidental death on the Peter Symonds' student, of Gordon Road, Curdridge, near Botley.

"I find no evidence he took them with the intention of ending his life.

"This was simply a case of the recklessness of youth-a feeling of invincibility. He had a feeling of wanting to live life to the full, to test himself to see how many tablets he could take.

"He probably was not aware of the numbers he had consumed. His body suffered the inevitable consequences of that massive overdose."

A Royal Hampshire County Hospital pathologist told the inquest he would find it hard to believe anyone could survive the 10,400 mg of Ecstasy per litre of blood found in Jack's blood. "It's the highest level of (MDMA) Ecstasy in any fatality ever recorded."

Jack's parents, Tim and Rachel and his elder brother were at the inquest to hear how the level of Ecstasy in Jack's blood was 100 times that found in most amphetamine-related deaths.

The inquest heard that in the months before his death, Jack had become a casual user of both Ecstasy and cannabis and was even seen selling cannabis at Peter Symonds' College, where he was studying A-levels in history, physics and computing.

Days before his death, he had gone with a friend to a pub near his home, where they met a man who sold Jack 20 Ecstasy pills. On February 29th, Jack, who had a part-time job at Currys, in Hedge End, had been using cannabis and spent several hours drinking with friends at the Cricketers pub, Curdridge, until 11.30pm.

They retired to James Stevens's house in Curdridge, where they spent the night using cannabis and Ecstasy. By then, Jack had sold five of the pills he had bought. Four were shared out and the remaining 11 were consumed by Jack during the course of the night.

A statement from DC Martyn Allen detailed how Jack had been dancing downstairs while the rest of the group was upstairs. Officers later found leaflets about Ecstasy at Jack's home.

Joe Martin (18), a member of the group, told the inquest that he did not see Jack take a pill. "He seemed anxious to take it and it was only later that I learned they had already obtained the Ecstasy tablets."

He described how they found Jack in the early hours, lying on the floor.

The coroner asked Mr Martin whether it was possible Jack had taken 11 pills. "Yes. Obviously, I don't know for sure. I'd heard of other occasions where he'd possibly taken up to nine. He liked the drug and seemed very anxious to do it again."

A statement from Elspeth Cook, also with him on the night he died, was read in which she detailed Jack's anxiety to experiment with drugs. "He had been selling cannabis at the college. I know some of the people he sold it to."