Diet pills that killed Shropshire student Eloise still for sale, says mum a year on from tragic death

Speaking one year after her death, Fiona Parry said that the maximum sentence for supplying pills like those which killed her daughter Eloise currently stood at just two years.

"I don't think that is really a deterrent given the kind of money they are making out of it," said Miss Parry, who lives in Condover.

She added: "If you are selling something that kills people, the sentence has got to reflect that, and to me a sentence of two years does not reflect that. It seems very lenient."

She pointed out that the jail sentence was considerably less than that for causing death by dangerous driving, let alone for supplying drugs such as heroin, ecstasy or cannabis.

Her call has been backed by the Local Government Association, which has also called on the Government to launch a national publicity campaign to warn of the dangers of buying diet pills over the internet.

Eloise, from Shrewsbury, was in line for a first-class degree in Families and Childcare Studies at Glyndwr University in Wrexham when she died a year ago. She had bought tablets containing Dinitrophenol – commonly known as DNP – over the internet.

The chemical, which is normally used as a pesticide, is not suitable for human consumption, but is illegally sold over the internet as a diet aid.

Miss Parry, a 52-year-old chemistry teacher, spoke of the difficulty in enforcing the laws surrounding the tablets, which are often sold from abroad and hidden behind legitimate companies.

She said that when the authorities moved to close the websites down, the suppliers simply started up again using a different web address.

Over the past year, 2,000 websites selling illegal slimming tablets were shut down, and more than 240,000 doses of tablets were seized by the authorities.

"It's good that they have been shut down, but the problem is that once that happens they usually start up again using a different web address," she says.

A year ago Miss Parry's daughter Eloise died at the age of 21 after taking an accidental overdose of toxic diet pills she had bought over the internet.

But despite her svelte size 10 figure, she had long been convinced she was overweight, and made the fateful mistake of buying unlicensed diet pills containing the deadly chemical Dinitrophenol.

The chemical was once used to make explosives.

But while selling it for human consumption is strictly illegal, policing sales over the internet is no easy matter.

For Eloise, the tablets would have tragic consequences. In April last year, she became ill after taking the tablets, and drove herself to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

It was from the hospital where, hours before her death, she sent a heart-rending text message to her lecturer saying she knew she was about to die.

"No one is known to survive if they vomit after taking DNP," she wrote. "I am so scared."

The website that supplied Eloise with the deadly tablets disappeared overnight, and nobody has yet been prosecuted in relation to her death.

The month after Eloise's death, 25-year-old Rachael Cook, from Worthing, West Sussex, died after taking the same tablet.

Miss Parry is reluctant to describe herself as a campaigner, but she hopes that the publicity surrounding Eloise's death will deter others from taking unlicensed tablets.

"I don't really mind whether they have heard about my daughter or not, as long as they are aware of the dangers of DNP," she says. "The important thing is to educate people not to take these pills."

Miss Parry is calling for much stiffer sentences for people who sell illegal tablets.

"I would like to see stiffer sentences for people who commit crimes like this, selling dangerous substances," she says.

"The current maximum jail term is just two years for supplying DNP.

"I don't think that is really a deterrent given the kind of money they are making out of it. If you are selling something that kills people, the sentence has got to reflect that, and to me a sentence of two years does not reflect that. It seems very lenient."

This compares to a maximum sentence of life in prison for supplying class A drugs such as heroin, ecstasy or cocaine, and up to 14 years for supplying class B or C drugs.

"I think it should be dealt with in the same way as causing death by dangerous driving," says Miss Parry. "When you drive badly you know there is a risk you will kill somebody, and the same is true of these pills. If you are selling them, then you know what you are doing, and that somebody will almost certainly die as a result."

Her call has been backed by the Local Government Association, which has also called for a nationwide consumer awareness campaign to warn people of buying diet pills online or from unknown suppliers.

In September last year, Miss Parry confronted a DNP dealer in a telephone call, telling him about Eloise's death. During the conversation, the supplier promised to shut his website down and stop selling the pills, although Miss Parry does not know whether he has simply started up again.

"He certainly took if off line at that time, but he had shut down a site before, only to set up another." Miss Parry says many of the dealers hide behind legitimate companies which ostensibly trade in unrelated products.

"Eloise's payments for DNP showed up as payments for computer components on Paypal," she says.

Miss Parry says progress has been made with the website domain providers, the majority of which now refuse to deal with DNP dealers. But she says there are still a small number of companies that will still provide them with a vehicle to advertise their products.

"It's only a small number of them, but the suppliers know where to go," she says.

"There is one particular website that I'm aware of, it's Canadian based, but it's operating within Canadian law.

"The Government's hands are tied, it's very challenging."

She says that while there needs to be tougher enforcement of the law and stricter penalties for suppliers, ultimately it will be education that is the best weapon in the fight against the deadly substances. "That is the way we need to go," she says.

"People need to be aware of how dangerous this stuff is. It worries me that some people think if they take this stuff and they are careful, they will be all right, but that is not the case.

"It is not meant for human consumption, and it is not safe to take in any quantity."

Miss Parry knows that, one year on, nothing will bring her intelligent, vivacious daughter back, and she will never realise the bright future that lay ahead. Her only hope is that other people will learn from the tragedy.

"I wouldn't wish what happened to my daughter, and to my family afterwards, on anybody," she says.

"If you take DNP, you can damage your health, and that is something that can be with you for the rest of your life.

"If you die as a result of taking DNP, it's your friends and everybody who loves you will have to live with it for the rest of their lives."