Mum’s drugs plea after ecstasy death of girl, 17
THE mother of a teenage girl who died after taking ecstasy during a sleepover has urged parents to discuss the dangers of drugs with their children.
Lila- Grace Smith, 17, is thought to have taken the Class A drug for the first time when staying with two friends.
The teenage girls were home alone and it is believed they delayed ringing an ambulance for two hours for fear of getting into trouble. After eventually being taken to hospital, LilaGrace died following a cardiac arrest.
Now, after her death in June, the teenager’s mother, Emma Hargreaves, 40, has spoken out in the hope of preventing similar tragedies in other families.
Miss Hargreaves and the teenager’s businessman father, Campbell Smith, 41, wrongly believed parents were with the friends in the house.
But left to their own devices the girls took ecstasy, also known as MDMA.
Police analysis of Lila-Grace’s mobile phone found no evidence of previous drug taking.
Miss Hargreaves, of Keighley, West Yorkshire, said she was horrified to discover the girls had taken MDMA and urged parents: ‘Just talk to your children about it and how dangerous it is.
‘ Tell them that if they are with someone who has taken drugs and they are even slightly concerned about them, they need to ring an ambulance straight away. Instead of worrying about how they might get into trouble, they need to worry about how they might be saving a life.’
Miss Hargreaves, who also has two sons aged ten and 14, said the shock was made worse as she ‘never thought it would happen’ to her daughter.
She described Lila- Grace as ‘just beautiful inside and out’ and said she loved spending time with her family. Miss Hargreaves said: ‘She was just really confident, lively, intelligent and outgoing. She was funny and kind, and she just wore her heart on her sleeve.
‘ Lila loved going on family holidays, to family barbecues and family parties.
‘We’ve got a really big family and that’s what her life was based around really.’
Police have investigated the death but no one has been charged, the family said.
An inquest is expected to be held next year. Lila- Grace’s friends and family have raised more than £4,500 in a sponsored walk for a memorial bench.
The funds will also go towards the mental health charity Mind as well as the Leah’s Law campaign, which was started by Kerry Roberts – mother of Leah Heyes, 15, who died after experimenting with MDMA in 2019.
Miss Roberts is campaigning for there to be a specific criminal offence for supplying drugs to children under 16.
‘Beautiful inside and out’