The father of a teenager who died after taking ecstasy at a Halloween “rave” has called for a change in the law to improve security and first-aid cover at such events attended by youngsters.

Brian Miller was speaking after a conclusion of misadventure was recorded on 16-year-old Morgan Miller-Smith who collapsed as he left the HPFest rave at Gwytherin, near Abergele, on October 29 last year.

The inquest at Ruthin heard that the Ysgol Aberconwy pupil, who was with friends, had dreamed of going to New York and studying the stock market.

About 450 youngsters, most aged 16-19, attended the event and Morgan’s brother Alex said his brother had bought two “Bitcoin” ecstasy pills on the day of the festival, carrying them in a plastic bag.

The inquest heard that he took half a pill on the way to the venue and it became obvious during the evening that he had taken drugs as he was sweating and hot.

Gary Thompson, who was leader of the six-man security team on duty, said everyone attending was checked as thoroughly as possible and no drugs were found on anyone.

During the evening, however, the police were called when one youth was found to have some form of crystals in a Kinder egg, and Mr Thompson said he took him to be a dealer.

But Mr Thompson, an experienced security officer who has worked at major festivals including Reading and Glastonbury, said that not only was everyone asked to empty their pocket, purses and wallets before being “patted down”, but a couple of staff also “floated around”, mingling with the dancers.

He said he had worked at the venue once before and the event was well-run, with a proper risk assessment having been made.

Mr Thompson said six was a sufficient number of security staff for such an event, though it would have been more had those attending been adults.

John Gittins, coroner for North Wales East and Central, read a statement from Mathew Sprake, a qualified ambulance technician, whose private ambulance company provided first-aid cover at the rave and who was called to attend to Morgan after he collapsed on the lane leading away from the site.

He said he was not allowed to intubate any patient and called a Welsh Ambulance Service vehicle which arrived within 15 minutes and took Morgan to Glan Clwyd Hospital.

Mr Miller told the coroner: “The law has to change. There has to be better security for events attended by those up to 18 years of age and there should be proper paramedics present. If there had been the outcome might have been different.”

Recording a conclusion of misadventure, Mr Gittins said he did not believe that Morgan was a habitual user of drugs but a young man with a “sensible attitude for the most part”.

“Sometimes people make bad choices in their lives and on this occasion Morgan made a very bad choice,” he said.

Having heard that farmer Prysor Williams did not intend to allow any future raves at the venue and the event organizer Hollie Profit no longer held such events the coroner said he did not see the need to issue a Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths.

It would always be possible to tighten security by using sniffer dogs but that could encourage people to take drugs before arriving, he said, and education about the dangers of using drugs was vital .

“I hope the message which goes out following Morgan’s death is that it takes only one mistake to lead to a tragedy of this nature,” he added.