Woman may have taken controversial diet pill after reading about tragic Shrewsbury victim Eloise
A woman who died after taking a controversial diet pill may have been prompted to take the substance after reading the story of a Shropshire woman.
Rachael Cook, 25, from Worthing, West Sussex, had been trying for a baby and bought the dinitrophenol (DNP) online after being told if she lost weight, it might help her conceive, an inquest heard.
The same substance killed Eloise Parry, from Shrewsbury, earlier this year after the 21-year-old accidentally took a lethal dose of the diet pills bought over the internet.
The pills contained dinitrophenol, also known as DNP, which is highly dangerous and not fit for human consumption.
An inquest into Miss Cook's death heard she died from a cardiac arrest three days after her birthday, having taken the substance because she feared she had eaten too much.
West Sussex Coroner's Court heard she took the drug after being told she needed to lose weight to have a child.
But Rachael's partner Matt Watts said her weight had dropped to six-and-a-half stone, she was exercising regularly, taking daily laxatives and eating just 300 calories a day.
He also told the hearing that Miss Cook may have been prompted to take the toxic substance after reading about Eloise Parry.
"Someone of sound mind would realise that (taking DNP) is fatal, someone who isn't is going to look at it as a potential way to lose weight," he said.
"She had been looking at it online and at the press coverage, so she hadn't heard about it before."
The coroner ruled the death as accidental.
