Diet pills website ‘should have been shut down’ a year before student’s death

Letters seen by the Observer reveal that concerns about the site were raised in May 2014 – a year before Eloise Parry died

The website believed to have sold diet pills to Eloise Parry, a 21-year-old student who died in April after taking eight of them, should have been shut down a year before her death.

Parry died on 12 April after taking a fatal dose of the pills, which contained 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP), an industrial chemical that promises a “quick fix” for rapid weight loss. The website believed to have been used by Parry, which cannot be named for legal reasons, has been shut down, but letters seen by the Observer reveal that concerns were first raised in May 2014, when the Canada-based website registrar, Tucows, was warned that a string of websites registered with the company were operating as illegal online pharmacies – including the site that was to be used by Parry.

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