Ex-Winchester public schoolboy, 19, dies from a drugs overdose at home 18 months after he was caught with ecstasy, ketamine, cannabis and LSD outside trendy Notting Hill Arts Club
- Maximilian Charles Saunders-Stoner, 19, was found dead at home in Hampshire
- Police say death of former Winchester College student not treated as suspicious
- Cause of death is respiratory depression plus heroin and promethazine toxicity
- He walked free from court in 2018 after being caught in possession of five drugs
Maximilian Charles Saunders-Stoner, 19, is pictured outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court after his case in December 2018
A former pupil schoolboy has died from a drugs overdose about 18 months after he was caught with ecstasy outside a trendy nightclub in London.
Ex-Winchester College pupil Maximilian Charles Saunders-Stoner, 19, was found dead at home in West Meon, Hampshire.
Rachell Barnett, who runs the local shop in the South Downs village, said: ‘I knew him very well. It is very sad.’
And Angie Trenchard, chair of West Meon Parish Council, added: ‘This is sad for any young man. This is a very sad thing to hear about in the village.’
Police confirmed his death was not being treated as suspicious. The coroner’s office said the cause of death was respiratory depression plus heroin, promethazine and alprazolam toxicity.
He died at home on February 14, but news of his death only emerged today after an inquest in Winchester was opened and adjourned until November.
He died just over a year after he walked free from court after being caught in possession of five drugs including ecstasy and ketamine at the trendy Notting Hill Arts Club after attending the carnival in London on August 27, 2018.
He made a full confession to police when they questioned him and admitted possession of cannabis, LSD, Ketamine, MDMA and Xanax, a class C tranquilliser.
Mr Saunders-Stoner was found dead at his home in the Hampshire village of West Meon
Mr Saunders-Stoner was searched when trying to enter the Notting Hill Arts Club (file image)
He had completed his A-levels at the £40,000-a-year school and moved to Vauxhall, South London, to take a foundation course in the arts before starting at university.
At court in December 2018, his defence barrister said he could not do his course because he had been ‘signed off sick with quite serious mental health difficulties’.
She also said that his mother was ‘extremely supportive and very, very worried, about him’. He had paid between £70 and £80 for the drugs.
Saunders-Stoner was handed a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £105 in costs during the hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.