Heroin death of bright lad who ‘feared failure’

Model Jodie Kidd, actress Kym Marsh and soccer hero Jimmy Bullard are calling on people to support their local.

And, as part of the Long Live The Local campaign, they have presented blue memorial plaques to pubs that have played an important part in their lives.

Jodie said: “Pubs are an important part of our communities. They are home to countless special moments, but so many of us take it for granted that they will always be there.”

A study by Long Live The Local, which is demanding a cut in beer duty, found that if the current pub closure rate of three a day carries on, almost six million people could lose their local by 2024.

The North West would be hardest hit, losing 675 pubs, followed by the South OVERDOSE Oliver Sharp A PRIVATE school student with a “fear of failure” died after taking a heroin overdose, an inquest heard.

Oliver Sharp, 16, began to have mental health issues in April 2016 and had told his parents he wanted to die. In the two years before his death he went missing from home in Stockport and took overdoses.

Christy Wheatley, a special education needs coordinator at Beech Hall School in Macclesfield, said: “He would only go to lessons if feeling quite positive. It was the fear of failure I think made him not go.”

Dr Parthiba Chitsabesan said he was “incredibly bright” but his emotional IQ was not in line with his academic IQ. Oliver went missing in October 2018 and was found in Gatley Park, Cheadle, the next day.

He died in hospital and tests found the cause was heroin toxicity. The Stockport inquest continues.