TWO suspected drug dealers arrested following the tragic death of a Poole teenager should have been charged, according to the victim’s heartbroken parents.

Tom Rowley was found dead in bed at his Canford Heath home on August 5 last year after overdosing on a powerful painkiller.

A Bournemouth inquest heard how the 18-year-old had taken more than four times the therapeutic dose of Oxycodone, as well as the stimulant Methadrone and cannabis.

His best friend Kaine Woolway said: “Tom was just amazing. He was always there for his friends and family. You couldn’t have asked any more of him.”

Mr Woolway recalled how Tom had used Facebook to buy drugs on August 4, adding: “I saw Tom take two tablets. He waited about an hour before he took another and started to feel sick.”

Mr Woolway said Tom had taken another two pills that evening before feeling ill again.

Tom’s father John recalled his desperate attempts to revive his son the next morning.

He told the hearing: “When I spoke he didn’t respond. I shook him. I’m a trained first-aider but I couldn’t get any response. I knew he was gone.”

A post mortem showed Tom had taken a lethal level of Oxycodone.

Traces of cannabis were also found in his blood. DC John Oldfield said two people had been arrested following Tom’s death.

“Their addresses were searched and incriminating evidence was found.

“They admitted supplying Tom in the past.”

However, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge them with supplying the drugs that led to Tom’s death.

Coroner Sheriff Payne recorded a verdict that Tom had died after abusing drugs, adding: “This was a very sad end to a young man’s life.”

Speaking after the hearing Tom’s father said: “We had hoped that there would be a prosecution.

“The individuals concerned should have been named and shamed.

“I knew Tom had taken cannabis but I didn’t know about him taking pills – that’s a different scenario.

“I thought he knew better.”

Tom’s mother Pam said: “We don’t want any other families to suffer like we have done.

“There should be help for parents who suspect that their children are involved in drugs; maybe a drop-in centre in areas like Canford Heath where they can get advice.”