Ecstasy robbed me of my girls
Mother tells how student daughter was killed by drugs – then distraught sister took her own life
THE mother of a university student who died after taking ecstasy during end-of-year celebrations has revealed that she lost a second daughter to suicide following the tragedy.
Less than three months after the death of talented mathematician Joana Burns, 22, her distraught sister Marcia, 17, killed herself.
The troubled teenager walked out of school and took her own life – two days before a scheduled appointment with a counsellor.
The sisters’ mother Mosca, 50, has spoken out about the dangers of students experimenting with drugs and revealed her family’s double tragedy as a warning to others. She told of her heartache at losing two ‘ gentle, sweet and thoughtful’ daughters.
Although Marcia’s death was not directly connected with drugs, she blames ecstasy for the family’s loss.
‘Joana’s death affected Marcia very deeply, but she kept her true feelings well hidden,’ said Mrs Burns, of Alfreton, Derbyshire. ‘She was vulnerable and susceptible and Joana’s death was the trigger to what happened.
‘I didn’t just lose one daughter to drugs, I lost two. It breaks my heart.’
Miss Burns, who was not a regular drug user, was celebrating finishing her final year of a maths degree at Sheffield Hal
‘She was very good at hiding things’
lam University when she died after taking MDMA – a crystallised form of ecstasy. She was part of a group who attended a club event at the students’ union in June last year. An inquest heard she started fitting in the early hours, was taken to hospital and died.
News of her sister’s death was a huge blow to Marcia, who was living in Stockholm with her father. Mrs Burns’ first three daughters were all born in Germany and when she split with their father she brought them back to England. Marcia decided to join her father in Sweden when she was just 13, but it proved difficult.
‘She did not make friends or settle very well,’ said Mrs Burns. ‘She wasn’t very open with her feelings and she knew she had caused a stink by moving out.’
Despite living so far apart Mrs Burns said the two sisters were ‘very, very close’ and saw each other as regularly as they could. Both had similar characters and were ‘sensitive and lovely girls’.
Marcia came to the UK for her sister’s funeral and was clearly deeply affected by her death.
Mrs Burns said: ‘I never thought for a moment she would do anything drastic. She was very good at hiding things.
‘I know her dad would not have left her had he known how serious things were with Marcia. They had reached out to a therapist and had made an appointment for Marcia, but she took her life 48 hours before.’
On August 28 last year, just twoand-a-half months after her sister passed away, Marcia walked out of the international school where she was studying without telling anyone she was going.
‘ She went missing halfway through the school day,’ said Mrs Burns. ‘She did not turn up to her next lesson.’
The teenager was later found dead in woods near her home.
Her mother said: ‘When you have an accidental death like Joana’s there’s a domino effect. Sadly it was Marcia who couldn’t stand up to losing her sister.’
Mrs Burns flew to Sweden and had to see the body of one of her daughters in a mortuary for the second time. ‘Joana’s death was a terrible shock and I’d forgotten things but, seeing Marcia there, lots of it came flooding back,’ said Mrs Burns, who has two other daughters – Cecilia, 26, and Daisy, nine.
She has already spoken publicly about the dangers of cheap drugs – the amount that killed Miss Burns cost just £7. ‘For a student, I’m sure the price is very attractive,’ said Mrs Burns. ‘I just don’t know how we are going to fight it.’
Two students will be sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court this Friday for offences relating to the night Joana died. Her friend Katherine Lavin, 21, admitted supplying a controlled drug and cannabis possession. Computer science student Benjamin Williams, 25, admitted supplying a controlled drug.
Mrs Burns said Lavin bought the MDMA from Williams. ‘I don’t care what happens to him,’ she said.
But she had some sympathy for Lavin. She does not want her jailed as she didn’t provide the drugs for profit and has ‘ been through enough’ watching her friend die.
Mrs Burns added: ‘Whatever happens it will not bring my girls back.’
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