'Heroin is killing my daughters'

A mother spoke in full for the first time today about the scourge of heroin which is destroying the lives of three of her four daughters.

Nurse Theresa Dodd, whose husband is a partner in a City law firm, lives in a well-to-do street in Tunbridge Wells, drives a Mercedes, and provided an excellent education for her daughters. But three of them have succumbed to heroin addiction and now Mrs Dodd fears it will begin to kill them.

Today she posed for a poignant picture with eldest daughter Antonia - now recovering from addiction - as she spoke about her fears. Her third daughter

Angelica, 21, is living rough on the streets, begging for drugs money. Serious health problems are already threatening her life.

Mrs Dodd said: "Not long ago Angelica was found lying unconscious in the street and was rushed to hospital suffering from serious liver damage. Her arms were full of drips and she was being fed methadone to stave off her withdrawal symptoms. But it wasn't enough to satisfy her craving.

"She just pulled all of the tubes out of her arms and walked out of the hospital to score more. She doesn't seem to understand that it is killing her."

The plight of Mrs Dodd, 58, and her daughters is a stark reminder of the fact that heroin is no longer exclusively the scourge of urban sink estates and rock stars. The easy availability of heroin in their home town, despite its genteel reputation, has meant that Angelica and her elder sisters Thomasina, 28, and Antonia, 30, all became addicts.

Thomasina still relies on the drug. Mrs Dodd's youngest daughter Seraphina, 19, is not addicted to heroin but has "suffered terribly" watching her sisters slide into addiction.

The stigma attached to heroin means many middle-class parents try to avoid facing the truth about their children's addiction, she believes.

Mrs Dodd said: "This is my plea to parents to wake up and realise that heroin is a real problem. Parents have to understand that having a child who is addicted to heroin is no different to having a child with anorexia. These children need help and support and the only way that they can change is if they understand that the only person who can save them is themselves."

"The girls all became involved with drinking and drugs in their teens, but it was not until three years ago that heroin took hold, Mrs Dodd said.

"My eldest daughter Antonia has now managed to kick the habit and has been clean for a year.

She explained that heroin seemed to appear from nowhere three years ago, and suddenly you could get it all over the place.

"People didn't believe it was really dangerous. Ten or 15 years ago most kids wouldn't touch heroin because they realised how dangerous it was. But because there wasn't much around for a long time, things changed."

Mrs Dodd added: "It is a tragedy and I am terrified. I don't want to have to go to my own daughter's funeral and be told by people, 'We're so sorry, we didn't know what was happening.'

"I don't want to my child to be next. I have to take this opportunity to tell my child that I'm here for her and that I'm not going to stand by silently and watch her destroy herself. This my chance to say, 'I love you. I'm here for you. please be strong and don't let this thing kill you.'"

Mrs Dodd said that she had been helped and supported a lot by her local Catholic church. Antonia is also attending the church now that she has stopped.

Antonia, who has two small children, said: "My life is so much better now. It is a joy to wake up in the morning and know that I'm just going to have a normal day without heroin."