A HAMPSHIRE schoolboy who died after a fall outside a pub was taking acne medication that could be linked to his death.

A coroner in Portsmouth yesterday referred the drug Roaccutane to the Committee for the Safety of Medicines after hearing how 16-year-old Richard Wilson from Stubbington died last year.

But experts say that Richard's death as he celebrated the end of school with friends may well have nothing to do with the drug and the referral is just a precaution.

Tributes to the young man were paid yesterday after the coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Richard, a pupil at Crofton School, Stubbington, drank about 12 cans of lager at the celebrations on July 26 and was found collapsed later, the inquest heard.

After being taken home, Richard's condition deteriorated the next day and, despite treatment at Gosport's Royal Hospital Haslar and Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, he was pronounced brain dead on July 29.

A post-mortem examination discovered a dissected aneurysm, a rare condition usually found among young people where an artery at the top of the brain splits and clogs, killing off part of the brain.

The coroner heard that a small injury to the head could have caused the aneurysm but that although there was no definite link between Richard's death and Roaccutane, and no other recorded cases, it would be reported and documented for future reference.

Speaking after the inquest, principal pharmacist at Southampton University Hospital's Trust Randell McKay said Roaccutane was used to treat severe acne but only prescribed by specialists, not GPs.

"Referring the drug to the committee does not imply that there is a link. It is standard procedure when unusual events are reported, just in case something comes up."