Mother of teenager who died after taking ecstasy warns others about MDMA

THE mother of a 15-year-old girl who died after taking ecstasy has urged young people to think about the deadly consequences of drugs.

Leah Heyes, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, collapsed and died after swallowing two MDMA “bombs” in May last year.

After two teenage suppliers were jailed at Teesside Crown Court yesterday, her mother Kerry Roberts said: “We miss Leah every day, her death left a huge hole in our lives that can never be filled.

“No sentence can ever change that, but what we do wish for is for young people to realise the deadly consequences of taking drugs.

“That adults are not just saying they are dangerous to spoil your fun, but that you truly understand how dangerous they are.

“You have your whole life ahead of you, please don’t risk losing it. If Leah’s death has not made you think twice, what will?”

Judge Jonathan Carroll paid tribute to Ms Roberts who watched the proceedings, and he said the case was “truly tragic”.

Sentencing Connor Kirkwood and Mitchell Southern, the judge said: “She was just 15 years old.

“She had everything to live for, the excitement rightfully held by young people in anticipation of their futures, a new sister on the way whom she never got to meet, all of that hope and aspiration for the future extinguished because of the evil that drugs represent in our society.”

The judge noted just two young people had the courage to tell the police what had happened the night Leah died, saying it was an example of the selfishness drugs caused.

Ms Betts died three days after taking an ecstasy tablet at her 18th birthday party in in Essex in 1995.