An email from a grieving mother to a chief constable finally sparked an investigation into the death of her talented son a year after he died after buying drugs on the dark web and when “time sensitive” material had already been lost, an inquest heard.

Computer whizz Will Helstrip, 18, was found in his home in Pocklington, near York, by his father on May 26 2022.

An inquest in Hull heard that Will wouldn't have been aware of the contents of a package he had bought online, which may have been sold as an anxiety reliever.

In fact it contained three drugs, including a powerful synthetic opioid called N-Pyrrolidino Etonitazene, which together affected his breathing and led to a cardiac arrest.

An email to Lee Freeman, former chief constable of Humberside Police, from Will's mother finally sparked police inquiries

That evening his mother Ruth told a police officer they suspected that the package came from Scotland. His parents say police should have traced the Royal Mail tracking number, which would have led to a specific Post Office and they could then have requested CCTV.

However although officers took away items including his laptop and phone, the hoped for, thorough investigation didn't take place.

Mrs Helstrip said she had been passed from pillar to post for a year, told that there couldn't be an investigation without the coroner ordering one, until she got so fed up that she emailed Humberside Police chief constable Lee Freeman (who retired last August). She told the hearing: "it's all too little too late".

Detective Chief Inspector Amy Keane-Christie said she had been asked to review the case in May 2023.

Asked by coroner Professor Paul Marks why it wasn't looked at sooner, she said: "It may have just been overlooked as an inquiry. It was only the letter to the chief constable that triggered this."

Fingerprints on the invoice and a foil strip of tablets didn't match up with anyone on the police system and the CCTV had since been wiped. However police inquiries are continuing.

A statement by Mrs Helstrip said Will was born with a cleft lip and palate and he had corrective surgery. He suffered anxiety and depression stemming from being badly bullied at secondary school, on one occasion getting attacked and injured so badly he ended up in hospital.

Computing became a hobby and release when he was not at school and by the age of 13 he was making money from creating websites.

She said Will failed to get the help he needed and had been turned away by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, because he was smoking cannabis.

Will was sent to a private rehab unit near Salt Lake City in Utah in November 2021, however came home only after a month.

In the run up to his death, things seemed to turned around and there was "light at the end of a long tunnel".

He told a friend he was "very excited" about starting a new computing job and moving into his own place and he felt "very optimistic for the future".

In her statement Mrs Helstrip said there was no question that criminality had led to her son's death.

She said: "Something needs to be done to prosecute and stop the perpetrator. Someone sent those pills to Will in the post. They killed our son at 18 years of age. Someone needs to be held accountable."

Professor Marks recorded a verdict of accidental death. He will issue a prevention of future deaths report to Humberside Police as their police investigation was "late in coming and time sensitive material had been lost".

He assured Will's parents that his report had "teeth" and the police had to respond indicating what action they would take within 56 days.

Mother's email to chief constable finally sparked investigation into son's death, but it was 'too little too late', inquest hears