Sad news student who died after battle with heroin addiction aged 26 ,Leanne Johnson,
A bereaved family has spoken out over the dangers of heroin after a promising college student died of an overdose at the age of just 26.
Leanne Johnson, a trainee hairdresser who resorted to prostitution to fund her drug addiction, had spent time in rehab after appearing on the Jeremy Kyle Show in a bid to kick the habit.
But when she returned home to Bolton, Greater Manchester, she went out and bought heroin despite telling her mother she was going to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.
Leanne was found dead in her bedroom by her mother hours later, surrounded by drug paraphernalia including a syringe in an ashtray and a crack pipe in her handbag.
Her sister Melane Gatis said: ‘Leanne has had a last-minute blip and we still don’t know why. I just think, she succeeded in kicking her habit and then embarked on a moment of madness which cost her life.
‘If her story saves one person’s life then Leanne has achieved some form of legacy. No family should go through what we went through.
‘We honestly thought we’d got our sister back. It’s heartbreaking – Leanne was fun-loving, funny and she was just really looking forward to her future.’
An inquest in Bolton was told that Leanne had had a good upbringing and worked in a number of shops while studying at college, but when she was 18 started a relationship with a man who got her hooked on drugs.
At one point she was smoking a rock of crack cocaine and injecting six bags of heroin every day, the hearing was told, and she sold her body in order to get the money she needed for drugs.
She split with her boyfriend but her habit worsened when he died from heroin abuse, and she started to go missing – on one occasion for several weeks.
In May 2014 Leanne contacted the makers of the Jeremy Kyle Show in a ‘cry for help.’ The show was filmed in Manchester the next, and she ‘bared her soul and admitted taking drugs’.
As a result she was offered a place on a rehab programme run by Perry Clayman Project in Luton for a rehabilitation programme.
Ms Stevenson said: ‘We were told that she would do a detox and she would be looked after. We didn’t see her until the fifth or sixth weekend after her going. Then she was a totally different person, she managed to put on a little bit of weight.
‘It was clear Leanne had come back, her personality was appearing again, just a different person. She was fantastic, full of the joys of spring, she was beaming, a smile all the way up her face. She just seemed happy.’
Leanne completed the 12-week course but was kicked off a second course in September last year after she broke the rules by drinking alcohol.
On September 8, Leanne left the house telling her mother she was attending a NA meeting – only to return saying she was not well.
After she was found dead a few hours later, tests showed traces of cocaine in her system and heroin at a concentration of 953mg per litre – well over the potentially fatal limit.
Leanne’s mother Pamela Johnson said that in the run-up to her death she had felt ‘like I had got my daughter back.’
She added: ‘She was happy, looking forward to her future, going back to college. She said she never felt better and had never been happier.’
Coroner Alan Walsh, recording a verdict of death by misadventure, said it was likely Leanne bought the drugs when she went out on the evening of her death.
He told her family: ‘I can see you are a respectable family torn between the love of a daughter and sister and the difficulties of managing someone who has an addiction.
‘You made every attempt to try and help her and the hope for the future of Leanne was at the highest level. Nothing could have prepared family for what happened later.
‘I believe this was the first time she had used any heroin from 8th May until the 8th or 9th September and the drugs would have had a dramatic and catastrophic effect on her.
‘Warnings should be sent out to anyone who takes heroin of the dangers and jeopardy they place upon themselves. I believe it is greatly to Leanne’s credit that she made contact with the Jeremy Kyle Show, something which might seem unusual. I give credit to the Jeremy Kyle show as it may be seen as an entertainment show but not a lot is known about the after-care.’
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