AN AWARD-winning tattoo artist died after taking a new ‘designer drug’ which he mistakenly believed was amphetamine, an inquest heard.

David Pepper, 47, of Godley Street, Bank Hall, Burnley, died at his home after swallowing the substance Benzylpiperazine, known as BZP, several times over a four-day period in January.

Mr Pepper’s death could be the first caused directly by the drug.

The case has led to warnings that it is impossiblefor drug users to know what they are being sold.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, said: “There have been a few instances of fatalities involving BZP, but in none was BZP the immediate cause of death, and all of these instances involved other drugs.”

A hearing at Burnley magistrates’ court was told Mr Pepper, a former illustrator, had run Tattoos Inc, Standish Street, Burnley, for seven years and was a well-known and respected figure in the trade whose work had featured in magazines and shows.

Mr Pepper became ill on January 26 and was pronounced dead later that day at Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Consultant pathologist Abdul Al-Daoud said that an original post-mortem found a small amount of amphetamine and alcohol in Mr Pepper’s system but a cause of death could not be established.

Blood samples were then sent to experts in Manchester which when analysed showed the presence of the BZP, which he described as a relatively new ‘designer drug’.

Mr Al-Daoud said that there was a “lack of data” about the drug, but his research had shown that a fatal dose could be concentrations of between 0.3 and 3.2 mg per litre of blood.

The levels found in Mr Pepper were found to be 20.4 mg, almost seven times the upper end of a fatal dose.

He said the drug, which has similar effects to speed and ecstasy, has the capacity to cause cardio-vascular problems including heart attack, seizures, respiratory problems and collapse.

The inquest heard from Mr Pepper’s fiancee, Helen Etherington, who had also established the tattoo business with him.

She told the court Mr Pepper had regularly used cannabis and amphetamines, but in recent years had cut down after being diagnosed with high blood pressure.

However, she said he would have a “blow-out every six to eight weeks”.

She said: “On January 23 I was upstairs in the house when someone visited who I didn’t see.

“David told me a friend had turned up and dropped off a quarter of and ounce of amphetamine, which he took over the next days.”

Miss Etherington said she had taken a some of the powder but was perturbed by how it made her feel.

“Something was not right about it,” she said.

“It wasn’t the same, the effect was different, it was more halluciogenic.”

Miss Etherington said she stopped taking the drug and warned Mr Pepper that the drug “was going to kill him”.

Later that evening Miss Etherington was unable to wake her partner and phoned for an ambulance.

Harry Shapiro, director of communications and information for DrugScope said that BZP first became prominent in New Zealand where it was promoted as a safer alternative to methamphetamine and ecstasy and was at the time legal.

He added: “This was never the case; the drug carries very similar risks to amphetamine and is one of a number of amphetamine-type drugs available on the illegal market in the UK, a group which includes mephedrone.

“All these drugs have the capacity to cause heart attack and seizures.

“It is very difficult for anybody buying drugs in the illicit market to know what they are being sold ; often the street-level dealers will be just as ignorant of the exact composition of what they are selling.”

Coroner Richard Taylor said that Mr Pepper ‘did not know what he was taking’ and recorded a verdict of accidental death.