A 16-YEAR-OLD girl ‘paid the ultimate price’ after taking a cocktail of heroin, ecstasy and cocaine, an inquest heard.

Sky Nicol died after taking ‘off the scale amounts’ of the drugs in Blackburn town centre.

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She later collapsed at a friend’s house in Darwen’s Greenway Street, the coroner was told.

In a state of panic, East Lancashire coroner Michael Singleton heard the teenager’s friend held off ringing an ambulance for more than half an hour, after calling a second friend to come round and help.

When an ambulance was finally called the The Heights Free School student was taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital where medics unsuccessfully fought to save her on March 23.

Mr Singleton said he felt it was highly unlikely the outcome would have been any different had an ambulance been called sooner.

A post mortem examination discovered Sky, of Laurel Avenue, Darwen had five times the fatal level of ecstasy in her bloodstream as well as traces of heroin and cocaine.

Giving evidence, Sky’s friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the pair had been in Blackburn town centre where Sky had caught a bus to Darwen.

She said: “Sky got off the bus a couple of stops before she usually would and then came round to my house about 45 minutes later.

“When she arrived she was in a worse state than when I had left her, but I did not know she had taken any substances.

“I was aware that Sky had taken cocaine and ecstasy previously but not heroin.

“At 5.53pm I called my friend Emma McDonald and told her Sky was not right.

“I could hear Sky making strange noises in the background like she was trashing the room.

“She was shaking and I tried to help her. She was not able to hold a conversation and her lips had gone blue.

“My mum and my mum’s sister were both in the house and my mum was aware Sky was in the bedroom.

“My mum told me to ring an ambulance and when Emma arrived at 6.30pm I called one.”

Questioning the witness, the former Darwen Vale High School pupil’s mum, Susan Graham asked why there was a delay in calling the ambulance.

She said: “They killed her.

“The ambulance should have been called straight away.”

The mother of Sky’s friend said: “I had no concern at first for Sky’s state.

“She was laughing and acting normal.

“I was only alarmed when she was having a fit and I told my daughter to ring an ambulance.”

When questioned by Mrs Graham why she did not call the ambulance herself, she said: “I was not near the telephone my daughter was closer.”

Paramedics were called to help Sky at 6.37pm and advised her friend to perform CPR.

When they arrived it was discovered the youngster’s heart had stopped.

Sky’s dad David Nicol, who runs the Prince of Wales pub, in Quaker Lane, Darwen, attended the inquest at Blackburn Enterprise Centre along with her mum and her older siblings Bromwyn and Emile.

Recording a verdict of drug related death, Mr Singleton told Mrs Graham: “I know there is nothing I can say that can persuade you differently, but part of the problem with illicit drugs is that they react with each other so that when there is a cocktail the outcome can be unpredictable.

“The amount of ecstasy in Sky’s body was off the scale and it seems to me that it is unlikely that the outcome would have been any different had the ambulance been called sooner.

He added: “Her friends have a whole lifetime to go, some 70 or 80 years of life, and during that time they will meet amazing people, go to amazing places and have amazing experiences, but they do not come in tablet or powder form.

“You may not realise it now but life is fantastic and the short term high is nothing compared to the risks that are associated with it.

“Sky has paid the ultimate price and I would hate it if Sky’s friends carried on with this sort of behaviour. Her death has to mean something, it has to mean that somebody somewhere is given a wake up call.

“I cannot begin to imagine the pain you are going through Mrs Graham.

“You have my total sympathy for your loss.”

A 16-year-old girl from Darwen and a 16-year-old boy from Bolton were arrested on suspicion of being concerned with the supply of ecstasy and have bailed until next month.

A 46-year-old woman from Darwen was arrested on suspicion of possessing Class B drugs, possession with intent to supply a Class B drug and possessing ecstasy with intent to supply is also bailed until July.