An inquest heard that 18-year-old Dylan Hill, collapsed and died in the arms of his girlfriend after dining at in Indian restaurant over two years ago. Dylan Hill, who suffered from a severe nut allergy, had gone out for dinner with his girlfriend, Demi Cash, on 17th May 2015, and had not been carrying his life-saving EpiPen. Demi Cash told Sheffield Coroner's Court that Dylan only carried the device “50/50” and at times forgot to take it out with him.
The pair had gone on a date at Shaam's restaurant in Barnsley where Dylan ordered a korma while Demi ordered a jalfrezi. Demi described how they checked the menu to ensure no peanuts were mentioned as part of the ingredients. Dylan had “only one or two spoonfuls” of his korma and he described how “it was different to what he had before”.
Demi explained to an inquest, “At this point, the waiter offered to swap the meal. The waiter said that there were almonds in it but not peanuts. It took around 15 or 20 minutes for the next meal [described as a chicken curry] to come out. He had a bit of the new meal but started to say he was not hungry now. He said that he felt a bit ill but looked okay at that point.”
Dylan, who was an apprentice builder from Barnsley, South Yorks., told Demi he “he always felt like that” if he ate something “he wasn't sure about”.
The couple left the restaurant and went home. After sitting on the sofa for ten minutes. Dylan went outside as he needed some fresh air. Demi felt that he had gone out for a long time before he returned to the door in a panic state. Demi said, “He came to the door and said, 'Can you ring my mum to get my EpiPen?”. As soon as I rang his mum she told me to ring an ambulance.”
Demi tearfully described how the ambulance operator asked Dylan to “breathe in a certain way” before stating, “to me it sounds like he is alright”.
Demi continued, “As soon as she [ambulance operator] said that he started turning blue. I told him 'come inside and lay down, come inside and lay down' but he just kept saying “I can't, I can't'. Seconds before the ambulance got there, he dropped and I held him on the floor.”
Ambulance staff pumped his stomach and rushed him to hospital where he died a few hours later.
In 2015, an inquest into Dylan's death was opened and adjourned, however, no criminal case was brought by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after his death.
