A HAMPSHIRE teenager who died at a house party had the world's highest ever recorded reading of Ecstasy in his system, an inquest heard today.

Jack Elliott, 17, had 10,400 milligrammes of the drug per litre of blood.

The previous highest known figure was 7,720, which was found in a person who had taken 42 Ecstasy tablets.

Jack, of Gordon Road, Curdridge, had spent the evening of February 28 drinking with friends at The Cricketers pub in his home village, the Winchester inquest was told.

The group returned to a friend James Stevens' house, in Chapel Lane, Curdridge, where they spent the rest of the night smoking cannabis and taking Ecstasy, it was said.

A statement from Det Con Martyn Allen, of Fareham police, described how Jack, a student at Peter Symonds College in Winchester, fell asleep and started to snore and shiver.

Friends placed him in the recovery position and covered him with a blanket, the inquest heard.

Early the next morning Mr Stevens noticed Jack's arm had turned a blotchy red colour and that he had stopped breathing.

Paramedics who were called to the house confirmed he was dead.

Consultant pathologist Dr Adnan Al-Badri, of the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, told the inquest the post-mortem had revealed that Jack's brain had swollen to nearly 15 per cent more than its usual weight.

His lungs had filled with blood and he had suffered acute kidney failure.

Dr Al-Badri said: "It's the highest ever recorded level of Ecstasy in any fatality. We don't know what is exactly contained in the tablets. We don't know the concentration or whether these amphetamines are mixed with other drugs.

"People can build up tolerance to it so they may need to increase the amount they take."

Coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said: "Given the extremely high level of drugs found, I conclude that Jack must have taken at the very least 11 tablets. I find that he had taken drugs before, including Ecstasy. There is no evidence that he took them with the intention of ending his life. This was simply a case of recklessness, the recklessness of youth, a feeling of invincibility, and he had a feeling of wanting to live life to the full.

Jack's family refused to comment after the inquest.

A close friend, who has admitted helping Jack buy Ecstasy tablets, is due to be sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on Friday.

Jack was studying history, physics and computing at Peter Symonds College and had already secured a place at Oxford Brookes University to study computer software engineering.