A YOUNG mum who died after taking a fatal amount of a so called "legal high" had been experimenting for months with various drugs in a bid to find the "perfect buzz", an inquest heard.

Hampshire's Coroner Court heard how Lucy Simms had a "diary" which methodically recorded numerous experiments with drugs and how they affected her.

Coroner Grahame Short concluded that it was one of those experiment's that "went wrong" which killed the 26-year-old, ruling accidental death.

Her death came just six days before the drug found in her system - known as APB - was made illegal.

The inquest heard how mum-of-one Lucy was discovered in her bedroom in Vinery Road, Shirley, by her friend Lloyd Phillips. Her body was wrapped in two electronic cables.

In a statement read out to the court, Phillips – who used to run a shop in Southampton selling “legal highs” - said he had left her home the previous night after she had taken a "bomb" of a legal high known as APB.

He said she had waved him off at the door and he didn't return until the next afternoon when he found her dead.

Phillips, who has since been jailed for raping and drugging a young woman as well as other drugs charges, was initially arrested on suspicion of her murder but after an extensive police enquiry no further action was taken.

Mr Short told the hearing that while he didn't accept that Phillips' statement gave the full account of his involvement, he was satisfied that Phillips had given Lucy the drug but as APB had not yet been made illegal, this was not a criminal act.

A post mortem revealed that the cables wrapped loosely around Lucy's abdomen and neck had not had not caused any injury.

Pathologist Russell Delaney said he found 80 marks of injury on her body, mainly small bruises and abrasions which had occurred at various times and were "not indicative" of a violent episode of assault.

Some of the abrasions appeared to have happened at or around the time of death but he said that it was possible that these could have been caused by her dog, who was in the house at the time.

Toxicology tests revealed that Lucy had taken a high dose of APB, a relatively new drug deemed to be similar to amphetamine and ecstasy, which at the levels found in her body would have been fatal.

The hearing also heard from Detective Sergeant Gareth Jones who said that packets of 5APB, 6APB and another drug known as MDAI had been found at Lucy's home, as well as a box of notes that "seem to document experiments of various kinds of substances".

He added: "They described mixing things in order to create the perfect buzz."

Coroner Short concluded that there was no evidence to suggest a third party had forced Lucy to swallow the drug and that it was a "foolish" decision to do so.

He added: "I find that the evidence shows that Lucy did not intend to end her life but rather that she did not fully understand the effects of the drugs she was taking."