Shona Elliott and NJ ConveryBBC News Investigations
BBCAlice Webb thought she would be home in time for school.
In September last year, she booked a non-surgical Brazilian butt lift (BBL) with Jordan Parke, a self-proclaimed practitioner known as the “Lip King”. The procedure usually involves injecting dermal filler to make the buttocks bigger.
Hours later she was dead.
The BBC has discovered that while Mr Parke – who was arrested but not charged – is not currently offering butt lifts in Brazil, he is still active in the cosmetics industry, selling illegal prescription-only slimming piercings on social media.
Speaking for the first time since her death, Alice’s family say the findings have left them “incredibly angry”.
The morning had started like any other. Alice had dropped off her five children at school in her pink and gold car while country music blared from the speakers.
“I had been in contact with Alice quite a bit that day,” recalls her sister April Palmer, “we were talking about the kids.”
A few hours later Alice stopped texting. Several messages and calls went unanswered. April eventually made it, but it was a paramedic who picked her up and told her that Alice was unresponsive and that she was being taken to the hospital.
The family got there as fast as they could, but upon arrival the doctors explained how serious the situation was.
“It was probably an hour until it passed,” April says, her voice shaking. “And then we spent until the early hours of the morning with Alice.
“We told her we loved her, held her hand, stroked her hair.”
Alice died before her children woke up that morning. April and the girls’ fathers faced the heartbreaking task of telling her five daughters.
Ben recalled: “We all got home at about six-thirty, we wanted to tell them before they got up for school. We didn’t want them to get ready. It was awful.”
Mr Parke was arrested on suspicion of her murder last September. He is still on bail but has not been charged.
Although it appears that Mr. Parke does not currently offer BBL, our investigation revealed that he is still active in the cosmetics industry. Now we’ve found him selling illegal prescription-only slimming drills on social media.
This is nothing new – in 2023, another woman he told the BBC he had ended up in A&E vomiting blood after receiving weight loss shots.
After this incident, and in the wake of Alice’s death, we investigated whether it was still possible to buy piercings from him.
After a quick exchange on Instagram and payment of over £200, our order was complete.
The kits were delivered by mail. We opened the unlabeled white envelope and found needles, mixing agents, and an unlabeled vial of white powder. There were no instructions on the package.
Laboratory tests by Dr Stephen Childs at the University of Sunderland confirmed it was semaglutide, which is also found in the diabetes drug Ozempic and the weight loss drug Wegovy.
When prescribed by a professional, the drug can be self-administered as weekly injections through pre-filled pen devices. Individuals must have at least one existing weight-related health condition, such as high blood pressure, and be obese to qualify.
This drug is carefully controlled and Mr Parke is not legally allowed to prescribe it.
In 2023, Maddy, then 32, says she bought similar piercings from him. After her first injection she says she became extremely ill, bedridden and vomited. Mr Parke said it would pass and advised anti-sickness tablets.
But when she tried the same piercings again weeks later, Maddy says the reaction was worse.
“It was bad,” he told the BBC. “I threw up all night, to the point where I was throwing up stomach acid, blood, white foam.”
When we told Maddy that Mr Parke was still selling weight loss piercings, she said it gave her “goosebumps”.
“I’m honestly disgusted. I remember being in A&E and wanting to die because I was in so much pain. It was horrible.”
Dr Sophie Shotter, an experienced cosmetic doctor, said it was “shocking” that Mr Parke was selling slimming piercings in this way. He warned that when semaglutide is not prescribed correctly it can lead to serious medical conditions, including thyroid problems and pancreatitis, which can be life-threatening.
Dr Shotter said preparing the drugs for injection was something she had been specifically trained to do as an anesthetist and not something a client should do at home, without training.
“You could be giving yourself more or less than prescribed and that’s fraught with danger,” explaining that usually, weight loss shots are already mixed and measured.
“The fact that Jordan Park is able to do this is a shame,” he said. “We are the laughing stock of the rest of the world, because I don’t know of any other country where this would be allowed to happen.”
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for investigating claims involving the unlicensed distribution or sale of prescription-only medicines.
Police said selling over-the-counter weight loss clothing would not breach Mr Parke’s bail conditions.
Alice’s family is furious that Jordan Park is selling illegal weight loss drugs.
“It shouldn’t be [selling them]says Ben, the father of Alice’s eldest daughter Delsie. “It’s that simple. I don’t know how he sleeps at night.”
The family says every milestone and occasion is marked by the shadow of her absence. The day one of her children learned to ride a bike didn’t feel right without her. Neither is buying Delsie a dress for the school dance.
In Gloucestershire, Alice’s mother Rachael turns preserved funeral flowers into wreaths for friends and family – a little talisman to mark the one-year anniversary.
“She was special to a lot of people,” says Rachael.
For the family, the anniversary is a time to mourn and reflect – but the ongoing police investigation hangs over them.
The BBC approached Jordan Park for comment and an opportunity to speak, but he did not respond.
Gloucestershire Police told us: “Alice’s death is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK and there are many complexities for the team to investigate.”
“We understand and appreciate that Alice’s family want answers and we are actively investigating her death and working with medical experts to determine what happened in order to provide those answers.”
After her death, Alice’s family, along with the safer cosmetics charity Save Face, launched a campaign calling for BBL liquids to be banned from high street beauty clinics.
And in August the government announced plans to strengthen regulation of the cosmetics industry.
Only qualified surgeons will be able to perform non-surgical BBLs and clinics will have to meet strict rules to obtain licenses to offer fillers and Botox.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “This Government is taking action to stamp out dangerous treatments, with tough new measures to ensure only qualified health professionals can carry out the highest risk procedures.”
“For anyone considering cosmetic surgery, check the provider’s qualifications and insurance – and avoid treatments that look suspiciously cheap.”
There is no clear implementation date yet. Until then, oversight rests with local authorities – who say they lack the powers to control the industry.
There have been more than 1,800 complaints about trainees since 2022, according to freedom of information data we requested from councils. Of these, 799 providers have been investigated and 85 have been closed.
There are also 156 councils in the data set that received more than one complaint but did not carry out inspections in the year of the complaint.
The Local Government Association – which represents local authorities – says it welcomes government plans for a licensing system but argues more funding is needed.
Victor Ktorakis, from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, says they are pressing for urgent action.
“My fear is that we will get to a point where there are so many facilities and professionals operating that it will be very, very difficult to manage from a public safety perspective – so we need something as soon as possible.
“And we need time scales and we need clarity.”
