Soldier dies 'after taking ecstasy pills'

A soldier on Christmas leave has died after apparently taking six ecstasy tablets during New Year's Eve celebrations.

Gary Smith, 26, of the 9th Regiment Army Air Corps, told friends he had taken the six tablets before he went missing from the Britannia Hotel in Wolverhampton.

He was found collapsed about 300 yards from the hotel at 3am and died in hospital four hours later.

Air Trooper Smith, who has a three-year-old son, was on leave from a secondment to the British Army training unit at Suffield in Alberta, Canada.

Chief Superintendent John Colston, of West Midlands Police, said there was strong evidence to suggest his death was caused by taking ecstasy. "Our sympathies must go to the family of Gary Smith and hopefully by issuing this warning about the dangers of the illicit use of drugs another family may be spared the tragedy of the death of a loved one. I think there is a big mystique built up about drugs that people want to experiment. They have heard from their friends what is like, but the bottom line is they are playing Russian roulette with their lives."

One of his friends, Kimberley Pritchard, who was with him on New Year's Eve, said he appeared "very agitated" when he said he had taken the pills. "He looked scared and paranoid more than anything. We just tried to calm him down and sat him down. I mean, he was not sick in front of us or anything."

Captain David Livingstone, an army spokesman, said a message of condolence had been sent to Air Trooper Smith's family, who live in the Dudley area, by his commanding officer, Colonel David Short. "It is speculation at the moment and Air Trooper Smith's family would not wish to comment on the circumstances of his death," he said.