Drug panic at Harrow as three teen pupils collapse at posh £37k-a-year boarding school after 20-pill ecstasy binge
Paramedics called to scene amid 'major panic' after three pupils reportedly bought drugs from local dealer
THREE boys collapsed at posh Harrow School after taking ecstasy tablets, The Sun can reveal.
One was rushed to the hospital while the others were treated on the scene by paramedics at the £37,350-a-year school.
The sixth-formers, all around 17, have since been suspended from the world-famous school, with one believed to have left.
They complained of feeling unwell in their boarding house last Wednesday night before collapsing around midnight.
The boys are believed to have bought 20 ecstasy pills from a drug dealer in the nearby town centre in Harrow, North West London.
Sources say they may have bought a bad batch — and all three complained of feeling unwell after taking some back at the all-boys’ school, where pupils wear straw boaters.
Two of the spaced-out lads were checked by paramedics while the other’s condition was serious enough for him to be rushed to nearby Northwick Park Hospital for treatment.
The school will be loath to wreck a young boy’s education because of one mistake
He was later discharged.
One source said: “This shows drugs are prevalent in every walk of life and have no class barriers.
“The boys went into Harrow town centre last Wednesday night and bought 20 pills from a dealer.
PMs, poets and actors
HARROW, founded in 1572, is one of just four all-boy public boarding schools in the country. Former pupils include prime ministers Sir Winston Churchill, Stanley Baldwin and Sir Robert Peel and the poet Lord Byron. Contemporary Old Harrovians include actor Benedict Cumberbatch and the singer James Blunt. Actor Laurence Fox was expelled but allowed to return and sit his A levels. His dad, James Fox, and uncles Robert and Edward, the father of actress Emilia Fox, were also pupils at the school. It featured in the eight-part 2013 Sky documentary Harrow: A Very British School.
“They took some but they are thought to have been a bad batch of ecstasy and they all became ill.
“There was a major panic and staff and the matron were called.
“They called an ambulance as there were serious concerns about one of the boys. He was taken to hospital where he was treated and initially detained for observation.”
The 805-boy school — set on a 260-acre site — has been accused in the past of turning a blind eye to drugs.
But the source went on: “The boys were all suspended by the head Jim Hawkins and the board of governors were informed. One of the boys has now left the school and a decision will be taken at some point on what to do with the other two boys.
“The school takes a firm stance on drugs these days but will be loath to wreck a young boy’s education because of one mistake.”
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called to reports of an incident at an address on High Street, Harrow.
“We sent an ambulance crew to the scene. We treated a patient and took them to hospital.”
The Met Police said it had no knowledge of the incident.
A spokeswoman for the school said: “Our policy is to protect the privacy of our pupils and we do not comment on individuals.”
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In 2006, former Harrow pupil William Jaggs, 23, stabbed Lucy Braham, 25, 66 times in a sexually motivated attack in North London.
A court heard Jaggs started drinking heavily as a 14-year-old before moving on to cannabis and cocaine.
Lucy’s dad Jason, himself a senior master at Harrow, said his daughter was “badly let down” by the school.
Health perils of danger pill
ECSTASY use has been linked to liver, kidney and heart problems. Anyone with a heart condition, blood pressure problems, epilepsy or asthma can have a very dangerous reaction to the drug. It also hampers the body’s ability to regulate temperature — so in a nightclub or anywhere users are dancing in a hot atmosphere there is serious risk of dehydrating. But drinking too much water to compensate can also be a hazard because Ecstasy can halt urine production and have a deadly affect on the body’s salt balance. Other major risks are not knowing what else is in it, and overdosing.