Brighton Student fell 60ft to his death after taking cocktail of drugs

An inquest into the death of popular Brighton student Diogo Moreira shows he fell to his death two hours after taking a mixture of illegal substances including MDMA and amphetamines in July.

The inquest was this Tuesday. It was reported he may have been suffering a comedown from Noisily festival.

The train station, near where it happened

Diogo was a mature student from Portugal and was studying Environmental Sciences & Geology at Brighton University. He wasn’t known to be a regular drug user, and his friend Jovan Popovic told the Coroners court that Diogo would only ever do drugs on special occasions such as the Noisily Music Festival they had attended.

After returning from the festival, Diogo fell from the 60ft drop around Howard Place, near Brighton station.

A toxicology report showed that he had taken LSD, Cocaine, and Cannabis at the music festival. MDMA and speed were also present in his blood. It’s suspected that he was on a comedown at the time of his death, which means he was most likely dealing with negative feelings at the time.

Detective Inspector Ian Trantum of the British Transport Police informed inquest police that the body was found behind some builders bags in the railway siding of Brighton Station several days later.

A pathologist said he suffered from broken ribs, cuts to his body and a broken arm, he either died immediately or soon after the fall.

The verdict was that it was an accidental death, since the amount of drugs present in his system would not normally result in somebody putting themselves at such a risk of danger.

Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deely does not believe that the death of Diogo was a suicide. Speaking to The Argus, she said: “I’m quite sure he didn’t intend to take his own life. I believe it has probably everything to do with the mixture of drugs.

“I don’t think we will ever know why he decided to take himself in such a rush to get across the road and why he decided to get over the wall.”