The mother of a 23-year-old who took a fatal cocktail of drugs has said she does not hold the woman who organised the drug-fuelled party at which he died responsible for his death.

Post-mortem examination tests on Adam Brownlow, 23, from Marsh Baldon, near Thame, showed he took a mixture of drugs including Ecstasy, cocaine, cannabis and LSD hours before he had a fit and died.

Mr Brownlow took the drugs at the country home of Jeffrey Burke QC, in Dagworth, Suffolk, during the 23rd birthday party of Mr Burke's daughter Sonya.

In an exclusive interview with the Oxford Mail, Mr Brownlow's mother, Marilyn, of The Green, Marsh Baldon, said that she and husband Peter had written a letter to the court asking for leniency to be shown to Miss Burke.

Mrs Brownlow, an accountant, said: "Adam was looking forward to going to the party to see all his friends from university. Sonya was one of those held in great affection by him.

"We asked for the letter to be read out in court because she was a friend of Adam's and we didn't feel that she should be held responsible for a mistake by Adam."

Burke pleaded guilty and was given a four-month prison sentence at Basildon Crown Court on Friday for allowing drugs to be consumed at the weekend-long celebration attended by 30 guests in May last year.

Damien Abass, 27 of Notting Hill, West London, was also jailed for 14 months after admitting supplying Mr Brownlow with LSD.

The court heard that guests at the party removed an antique mirror from a wall and snorted cocaine off it.

One guest, Ashleigh Lezard, said she saw Mr Brownlow snort cocaine.

A former pupil at Abingdon School, he had completed a degree in pharmacology at Leeds University in 1999 and was planning to start a career in alternative medicine. His thesis was a comparison between alternative and homoeopathic treatments and mainstream medical drugs.

He was a keen traveller who spent university holidays travelling around eastern Africa with his friends and the west coast of America and Mexico with his girlfriend, Anna Maloney, who lives in Liverpool.

Mrs Brownlow added: "He was a very loving son and we are still devastated by his death - it never leaves you. It's difficult to put into words how you feel but he was our only child and we miss his warmth and loving smile.

"His girlfriend Anna was a big part of his life. She was working in France at the time of the party and she is finding it really hard.

"He was a very loving son and all his friends loved him. He had a lot of friends and they will miss him as well."

In sentencing Burke, Judge Philip Clegg, said: "While I accept you didn't corrupt anyone, you provided your guests with a venue where such activities could and did take place."