Rugby player, 21, in heroin and cocaine tragedy dies months after going on rehab course

A talented rugby player who began taking drugs at a top private school died after taking heroin and cocaine, an inquest heard.

Alex Waycot, 21, died in August 2019, months after his family had paid for him to attend a £5,000 drug rehabilitation course.

The Leicester Tigers Academy member was formerly a pupil at £30,000-a-year Stamford School in Lincolnshire, whose alumni include Colin Dexter, author of Inspector Morse, and General Sir Mike Jackson, former chief of the Army.

Mr Waycot died in Macclesfield, Cheshire, where he was living while taking a barbering course.

He was found in bed by his landlord Peter Houston, who had previously asked him to leave the flat due to rowdy behaviour.

Mr Houston told the inquest in Warrington that he had ‘looked at peace’, propped up in bed surrounded by pillows with Netflix on the television.

Mr Waycot’s mother Julie Baker told the inquest that her son had ‘suffered from low self-esteem’ and took cocaine to make him feel more ‘confident’.

However, she added that she could not ‘understand’ the heroin and suspected it was the first time he had taken it.

She broke down as she told the inquest how the last text he sent her – just a day before his death – said: ‘Thank you mum for everything you have done. I love you so much.’

Although Mr Waycot had completed a rehab course in Lancashire earlier that year, one of his flatmates told the inquest that she had driven him to meet someone to buy drugs the day before his death.

Coroner Alan Moore found Mr Waycot died as a result of misadventure, saying he had been a ‘naive user’ of heroin.