Teenage Boxer Dies After Drug Binge, Coroner Issues Ketamine Warning

A talented teenage boxer, Calum Naylor, 18, died after consuming a combination of drugs, including ketamine, during a night out with colleagues, leading the coroner to issue a stark warning about the dangers of the powerful tranquilizer.

Naylor had been drinking with workmates on December 6, 2024, and was denied entry to a lap-dancing bar because he was underage. His colleagues then gave him money, encouraging him to "enjoy yourself." He subsequently went to a pub and then a house party in Notting Hill, where he consumed vodka and snorted ketamine.

Friends were unable to wake Naylor the following morning. An ambulance was called, but he later died in the hospital. Senior coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox highlighted the alarming casualness with which young people seem to use drugs like ketamine, often referring to its effects as a "K-hole" or taking "a little bit," which she described as terrifying.

Inner West London Coroners' Court heard that Naylor had met with friends Jackson Rigby and Oscar Fremanis. Fremanis stated that Naylor had mentioned taking "pink cocaine," a mixture containing cocaine, MDMA, ketamine, and Viagra, and appeared intoxicated with wide eyes. The group later met acquaintances Tristan-Jacob Attack-Omoruyi and Zeb Tucker before heading to The Mill pub in Kingston-upon-Thames.

At the pub, Naylor's drug use, including ketamine and Xanax, was observed by Rigby, who noted Naylor frequently went to the toilets. The group was offered a ride home by a friend's father, but Naylor and Fremanis were refused due to their level of intoxication. They then proceeded to a house party hosted by 17-year-old Sebastian Parkes in Notting Hill.

Upon arriving at the party around 2 a.m. on December 7, Naylor was visibly intoxicated. Despite this, he drank vodka and snorted ketamine before lying down on a bed. Fremanis described Naylor as being in a "K-hole," in a trance-like state.

Around 6 a.m., Parkes attempted to rouse partygoers. He found Naylor unresponsive, with grey skin and cold to the touch. Efforts to wake him, including splashing water and administering CPR with another partygoer, Xavier Page, were unsuccessful. Paramedics arrived shortly after and managed to revive Naylor's heart, but he remained unconscious and died later that evening at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Paramedics noted that even if the ambulance had been called earlier, it was likely too late to save him. The cause of death was determined to be multiple drug toxicity, with toxicology reports confirming the presence of Xanax, ecstasy, cocaine, and ketamine. Mark Faulkner, a cardiac expert and paramedic, indicated that mixing ketamine and cocaine is particularly dangerous, with no antidote.

Naylor's mother, Kelly Gorman, described her son as a kind and inclusive person. He was a talented boxer from a young age, with tryouts for the England schoolboys team. He had put his boxing career on hold to pursue an apprenticeship as a plasterer on film sets.

Rigby recalled that Naylor's drug use had escalated after attending the Reading Festival in August 2023. He noted that Naylor would sometimes use drugs in front of friends and sometimes alone, and that his behavior had become "very slow." His eating habits and consumption of Red Bull had also changed, and he had lost weight.

Senior coroner Prof. Wilcox ruled Naylor's death as drug-related misadventure, expressing condolences to his family.