POLICE 'failings' and 'lies' from witnesses will prevent the last hours of tragic 16-year-old schoolgirl Ellie Jones' life coming to light, an inquest heard.

St Gregory's High School pupil Ellie had difficulty breathing after taking PMA on May 17, 2013 before being rushed to hospital in the early hours of May 18 where doctors were unable to resuscitate her.

Heartbroken friends and family were at Warrington Coroner's Court on Tuesday to hear the evidence.

Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg confirmed that it was PMA toxicity which led to the death of the teenager.

Ellie's father Craig represented the family in court but a touching statement from Ellie's mother Cheryl Beckett was read out.

"Ellie was a lively, fun-loving and intelligent girl," said the statement.

Family members were left frustrated with parts of the evidence, in particular relating to the lack of measures taken by the police after arriving on the scene.

DI Matthew Durcin, who attended the court in the absence of DC Sarah Kirkbride, the liaison officer in the case, was the inspector covering the events on the morning of May 18.

"It was a scene of utter chaos - there were different individuals in different rooms," he said.

"The officers' job was to restore some order - nothing was setting off alarm bells which we could call sinister. There were six individuals there and we were unsure if they were witnesses or individuals.

"The quantity of drugs recovered in the freezer was crucial to the investigation but there were no forensic results for the packaging.

"In my personal opinion we have failed on establishing if criminal activity took place, if it did, and we have not managed to establish the truth - we can only go of what we have."

The court heard how one witness, Nicholas Worthington, accused 18-year-old Aiden Robinson of producing the bags of PMA and supplying them to Ellie but this was strongly denied.

Shortly after, Mr Robinson accused other witnesses of having a ‘vendetta’ against him.

Dr Claire Perry, a forensic toxicology pathologist, said Ellie did not test positive for alcohol in her system but Mr Rheinberg said a small amount may have been consumed despite the findings.

He said: "I believe forensic evidence established that Ellie was not one of those who was getting intoxicated with alcohol, I think she consumed some, perhaps a can of beer or something like that."

After feeling tired Ellie was taken upstairs by the help of friends but once she woke in the early hours of May 18, the tragic effects of PMA kicked in and her condition deteriorated.

An ambulance was called at 3.35am on May 18 before she died at Warrington Hospital at 4.49am.

Delivering his verdict, Mr Rheinberg was critical of some of the evidence given and issued a stark warning against the use of PMA.

"We should not concentrate totally on last moments of Ellie's death and look on the positive side - what has become clear during the course of the inquest is how dearly Ellie was loved," he said.

"There is a huge frustration - we are not any way substantially nearer knowing what happened, lies have been told to this court.

"It is clear someone supplied Ellie with drugs. At a time unknown, Ellie became unwell. It is a desperate shame no one intervened.

"She was suffering from advanced effects of this drug - the medical cause is PMA toxicity.

"The very nature of this drug PMA is someone may take it and it may not have immediate effect, then the delayed action takes place."