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THE TELEGRAPH

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

STE-E01-S2

STE-E01-S2

THE TELEGRAPH

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

In Brief

POLICE are appealing for information after two burglaries in Gainsborough. An offender broke into a house in Park Springs Road, Gainsborough, between 8am and 2pm on January 21. They stole a TV , an iPad and jewellery . Thieves also broke into a house in Springthorpe Road, Gainsborough, sometime between January 19 and 22 by smashing a window. Once inside they stole a 32-inch Samsung TV and a set of keys. A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police said: We believe the two offences may be linked and we are appealing for anyone with any information to get in touch as soon as possible. Call Lincolnshire Police with information on 0300 1110300 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Police hunt burglars as two homes are targeted

Methadone deaths The verdicts

Early focus was on legal highs
THE deaths of Nick Smith and Louis Wainwright were initially believed to have been linked to the then-legal drug Mephedrone (M-CAT). It was reported on March 17 last year how officers from Humberside Police thought they could have taken M-CAT, as well as alcohol and methadone. An update on the investigation into the deaths was given to regional and national media at a press conference the following day. After the briefing, Chief Supt Pete Simmonds told the Scunthorpe Telegraph how officers were unsure how big the Mephedrone problem was in North Lincolnshire. Speaking at the time, he said: What we would hope that comes out of this is a better idea of the extent of its use within North Lincolnshire. On the same day, the parents of Nick Smith, Tony and Elaine Smith, said they were determined something good should come of their sons death and that he would have hoped it could save others. Just four days after the teenagers deaths, a campaign was launched to highlight the potential dangers of the legal drug to North Lincolnshire clubbers. And within five days of the deaths, after a police appeal, a total of 26 people had been to Scunthorpe General Hospital for check-ups after suspecting they had taken Mephedrone. On March 24, then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the drug as evil and said an immediate ban could be on the cards when the issue was raised at Prime Ministers Questions. And on March 30, then-Home Secretary Alan Johnson announced Mephedrone would be banned within weeks and categorised as a class B drug, following a report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

Your town online

Why is this drug swilling around us?

Acting Chief Reporter

www.thisisscunthorpe.co.uk

In Brief
THE Meningitis Trust is looking for cycling enthusiasts of all abilities to join their ranks for their London to Paris Cycle Challenge. The event will be taking place from July 1 to 4 and will mark the charitys 25th anniversary, seeing cyclists ride 310km over three days. Participants will ride through the English countryside from London and through French villages to arrive at the Eiffel tower in Paris, before returning home on the Eurostar. Roza Woodley, event organiser from the Meningitis Trust, said; If you havent cycled before, this shouldnt put you off. Not only is cycling an effective way to burn calories, but it also reduces your risk of heart disease and strokes and promotes good mental health. To register, call 0845 1204530 for a free information pack or visit www.meningitistrust.org

Cyclists to do London to Paris charity challenge

by Selina Maycock

selina.maycock@gsmg.co.uk

CONCERTS will help raise money for orphans in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Prize winners from Scunthorpe Musical Festival will stage a concert in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. It will be held at the Plowright Theatre on Friday under the title Look All Around You. All money from the concert will go to Lesotho for the education of orphans of AIDS. The curtain will be raised at 7pm and tickets are priced at 6. A second concert, on Saturday will be held by East Yorkshire Motor Services Brass Band. It will begin at 7.30pm at the Plowright and tickets cost 9. Money raised will also go towards the education of orphans in Lesotho. To purchase tickets, call the box office on 01724 277733.

Help African orphans

BRIGG Operatic Society is appealing for singers, dancers, actors and creative artists to work behind the scenes on its Annual Variety Concert, which will take place later this year. The friendly bunch, who are renowned for their professional performances, would like to welcome anyone who is interested in treading the boards to their weekly rehearsal. If you would like to take part in rehearsals and join the Brigg Operatic Society, meet at the sports hall, Demerit House, Bigby Street, Brigg. Rehearsals start at 8pm and will next be held on Monday . For more details, call 01724 330874.

Perform in variety show

SCUNTHORPE and District Embroiderers Guild will meet on Saturday . Guests are invited to St Pauls Church Hall in Ashby High Street from 10am to 4pm. The morning will be stitch club and guests are advised to bring work in progress to continue. The afternoon from 2pm will be a practical, with Gladys Rocket leading a session entitled Encaustic Work. For further information, call Helen Danson on 01652 635175.

Embroiderers to meet

MOURNED: Left, Louis Wainwright and, right, Nick Smith. Above is DCI Mark Oliver at the inquest into the death of the friends after an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol.

Nick Smith, 19, from Winterton and Louis Wainwright 18, from, Winteringham, died as a result of an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol, within hours of each other on March 15 last year. But despite extensive investigations police have been unable to establish where the methadone came from. Speaking at the inquest, North and North East Lincolnshire Coroner Paul Kelly said: I am profusely concerned about the number of reported deaths where methadone is a significant factor. A number of recent cases come to mind. An 81-year-old inadvertently acquired the substance from a fellow patient in hospital and later consumed it, mistakenly, as if it was prescribed to him. In a case last Thursday, I conducted an inquest into the death of a 16-year-old girl who had consumed methadone casually left around her home by family members to whom it had been prescribed. My impression, for what it is worth, is that methadone is increasingly more valued as a commodity rather than for its therapeutic effect by consequence. Its my feeling the community is awash with methadone, carelessly, recklessly or criminally mis-handled. Responsibility for prescribed dispensing, and supervised consumption, falls into a number of agencies but in the first instance I will be writing to the substance misuse directors of safer neighbourhoods to ask for a multi-disciplinary review of local procedures in an attempt to reduce the quantity of incidents of methadone related deaths. None of this, however, will bring back Louis or Nick.

A CORONER has called for a review into the regions procedures surrounding the dispensing of methadone, in light of the inquest verdicts of two North Lincolnshire teenagers.

Synthetic opiate similar to heroin

PAINFUL: Jacqui and Andrew Wainwright pictured arriving at Pittwood House, Scunthorpe, for the inquest into the death of their son Louis Wainwright and his friend Nick Smith. Pictures: David Haber He then turned to each family and said: I hope you can draw some comfort from the fact we hope some attempts have been made to diminish the amount of methadone swilling around our community . The inquest heard that on the evening prior to their deaths, Nick and Louis left The Ferry Boat Inn in Winteringham and got a taxi to Scunthorpe town centre. CCTV footage was pieced together. It showed they went on tour of several locations in Scunthorpe, including Love2Love, Showboat, Mary Rose then moved on to Industry night club. It was in Industry night club where they drank methadone in the toilets before moving on to Showboat then Daily Kebab, both on the High Street. At around 2.30am, the pair happened to split up and PC Lucy Hebdige was alerted by the CCTV centre to assist Louis, who was laid down on a bench on Brit Corner. I called for an ambulance and we tried our best to get him to speak to the paramedics but he was very against it, she said. The inquest then heard how Louis, an apprentice welder, returned home in the early hours of March 15, and his mum Jacqui had helped him to bed. She told the court: He seemed quite drunk. I helped him undress and put him in bed in the recovery position in case he vomited. At 11am the next day, she went to check on him and found he was not breathing. She said her son had previously spoken out against drugs and even warned friends of the dangers. She added: He was totally against drugs so this was very out of character. Nick, a chef at Winteringham Fields restaurant, was found dead at his friends home at 4pm the same day . Charlene Money told the inquest: I went downstairs and he seemed to be sleeping so I left him until 2pm. I phoned a friend and before I knew it was 4pm and I tried to wake him. I rushed next door to call an ambulance. At the time, their sudden deaths sparked a high-profile police investigation into the usage of the former legal high M-CAT. Text messages recovered from Nicks mobile phone, sent on March 6, read: Mate Ive got some MC in, on March 7, another read: Got some MC if you want some and another received at 10.04pm on Sunday, March 14 read: Got some pukka M-CAT in if you know anybody who wants any 20mg so let me know. Police used the term M-CAT because it was what Nick and Louis were believed to have used locally, and with investigations centred around public safety, officers were trying to warn other people about the nature of that drug to prevent a further loss of life. Speaking after the inquests, which were held at Pittwood House, Ashby Road, Scunthorpe, the officer who led the investigation into their number of synthetic opiates (also called opioids) that are manufactured for medical use and have similar effects to heroin. f Methadone and Subutex (Buprenorphine) are used as opiate substitutes for heroin in the treatment of heroin addiction. f Methadone is a Class A drug illegal to have, give away or sell. Possession can get you up to seven years in jail. Supplying someone else, even your friends, can lead to life imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. f The street cost of methadone is 1 per 10ml.
f Methadone is one of a

Help the RNLI save lives

deaths, Det Chief Insp Mark Oliver said: On behalf of everyone who has been involved with this tragic case, I would like to offer my condolences to the Smith and Wainwright families. Two young men, who had their whole lives ahead of them, died needlessly and my heart goes out to everyone who knew and loved them. When the investigation began, the priority for both police and our partner agencies was to prevent any further loss of life. It was imperative for us to ensure that young people living and socialising in and around Scunthorpe were aware of what had happened to Louis and Nick and the potential risks that are involved in mixing alcohol and drugs generally . Educating people was, and still is, the key focus for us and based on the evidence that was available to us in the very early stages of this investigation, it was necessary to warn young people and provide advice.

THE RNLI will hold its biggest day of fundraising as it launches SOS Day . SOS Day will take place on Friday and the organisation are looking for kind-hearted individuals to get involved and support the lifesaving service. This winter, RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew members will go out in all types of treacherous weather conditions, including freezing fog or gale force winds, and many of these lifeboat launches are likely take place at night. Actor Timothy Spall is support this years SOS Day and encouraging everyone to get involved. He said: I am in awe of the RNLI volunteers who are ready to stop what theyre doing when their pagers go off and risk their lives to help others in danger at sea. For more fundraising ideas, visit www.rnli. org.uk/sos.

Personal friendly Optical Services in a Relaxed Atmosphere.

Timeline of tragic Louis and Nicks last movements

taxi dropped Louis, Nick and two friends outside HSBC bank in Scunthorpe. They made their way up the High Street towards Love2Love. They enter and leave the club on several occasions. f 11.30pm: Both Nick and Louis leave Love2Love and went to Industry . f 11.55pm: Nick seen on a
f 10.30pm: A silver saloon

Boys parents plead for something good to come out of this

f Continued from page 1 It went on: We miss him so very deeply and our lives without him will never be the same. Our only hope is that something good can come from this senseless tragedy and that other young people learn from what happened to him and no other family has to endure the pain we fell every single day . We are so very proud of Nick and everything that he stood for and achieved and while the void created by his death can never be filled we will forever remember his radiant smile and love for life and he will forever live on as a part of our family . A statement read on behalf of Louis parents, Jacqui and Andrew Wainwright, said: We would like to thanks all of our family, friends, the local community and professionals for their support and compassion during this difficult time. We remain devastated by our loss of Louis. His absence has left a huge hole in all of our lives that we will never be able to fill. We would like Louis to be remembered for the funloving, affable and thoughtful young man that he was. Police said at the time that both Nick and Louis were believed to have taken M-CAT on the night before they died. But during the two separate inquests held at the request of the families they were told that methadone and alcohol were the causes that triggered both deaths. Prof Peter Vanezis carried out the post mortem examinations on both youngsters and told the inquest of the findings of the toxicology reports conducted by Dr Steven Morley . Toxicology reports for Louis found 137mg of alcohol in the blood, (drink drive-limit 80mg), 250mg of alcohol in the urine and 295mg of methadone in the body . Nick had 219mg of alcohol in the blood, 214mg of alcohol in the urine and 377mg of methadone in the body . Further tests were carried out at St Georges Hospital in London and results showed there was no evidence of M-CAT in the system of either Nick or Louis. Prof Vanezis said: The level of methadone mixed with alcohol caused a significant respiratory detriment to someone not used to using methadone, affecting the levels of consciousness and ability to breathe. DNA from both teenagers was found on the neck of a small green non-prescription bottle which contained methadone and was found in Nicks back pocket. The inquest, held at Pittwood House, Scunthorpe, heard from a number of witnesses, among them family members, including Louis mother Jacqui, Nicks mother Elaine, friends and police officers. The inquest heard police describe the pairs last moments which were captured on CCTV . Images showed they went on a tour of several locations in Scunthorpe, including Love2Love, Showboat and Mary Rose, before drinking methadone in the toilets of Industry nightclub. The inquest then heard how Louis was found by his mum at 11am at his home in Winteringham, and Nick was found at 4pm at a friends house. Det Chief Insp Mark Oliver said a combination of CCTV evidence, information gathered from friends, text messages and calls made in the presence of Nick and Louis confirmed they both sought to buy M-CAT and voluntarily took Methadone. Mr Oliver added: Both young men voluntarily took the drug, both men attempted to buy M-CAT but there is no evidence as to how they obtained methadone. We cannot tell you what was asked for, or what they believed they were taking. We have established that drugs are known by different names you might be asking for one thing and get something else, you dont know what you are getting. Paul Kelly, the coroner for North and North East Lincolnshire, recorded a verdict that both Nick and Louis died as a result of accidental overdose of a non-dependant drug acting with alcohol intoxication. He has called for a review into the local procedures in an attempt to reduce the quantity of incidents of methadone-related deaths.

See World War One film

THE movie Passchendaele will be screened at Bartons Ropery Hall tomorrow. The film is set in 1917, in the First World War, when the veteran Sergeant Michael Dunne is wounded at the front and nursed by Sarah Mann. The showing begins at 7.30pm. To buy a ticket, priced at 4, call 01652 660380.

CCTV PICTURES: The Industry bar on Frodingham Road in Scunthorpe.

mobile phone at Mary Rose. f 00:18am: Louis shaking hands with a unidentified man outside Industry . They go to the bar for drinks. f 00:30am: Louis and Nick in toilets of Industry . Nick removes a small bottle from his pocket and passes it to Louis. Louis opened the bottle, some others entered the toilets, this

prompts both Nick and Louis to enter the cubicle and close the door where they are believed to have drank the methadone. f 1.09am: Pair seen talking to door staff at Showboat before going inside to the bar. f 1.22am: They both go to Daily Kebab then separate before being reunited outside Showboat.

f 1.42am: Nick goes back to Daily Kebab (this is Nicks last sighting) Louis goes to Brit Corner f 2.36am: Louis laying on a bench at Brit Corner, approached by two police officers and ten minutes later paramedics arrive. f 3.22am: Louis is seen on CCTV staggering severely before getting into a taxi home.

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