Mother of drug death teen campaigns alongside mother of the teenage dealer who supplied
Report by Julia Breen
The mother of a 15-year-old who died of an overdose is campaigning for drug awareness alongside the mother of the drug dealer who supplied her.
Leah Heyes died in hospital after collapsing in Applegarth Car Park in Northallerton on 11 May 2019.
She had taken a 'double-dose' of MDMA, the chemical name for the party drug known as 'ecstasy'.
The teenagers who supplied her - Connor Kirkwood, 18, from Dishforth, and Mitchell Southern, 19, from Thirsk - both pleaded guilty to supplying the drug and were given jail sentences of 21 and 12 months.
Connor Kirkwood had become involved in a so-called 'county lines' drug network.
Leah's mother, Kerry Roberts, believes the sentences should have been longer. She is campaigning for Leah's law, which will see the sale of drugs to children become a specific offence.
She told ITV News Tyne Tees that Connor Kirkwood's mother Sammy agrees. The two have become unlikely friends through a restorative justice programme.
They are now working together on a campaign called 'Do You Know MDMA?' to increase awareness of the drug's dangers.
Leah died just shortly before getting to meet her little sister Eva, now two. Kerry explains the impact of her daughter's early death on the family.