The parents of a 15-year-old girl who died after reportedly taking a new psychoactive substance have urged other teenagers to “make better and safer choices”.
Leah Kerry was found unconscious in Bakers Park in Newton Abbot, Devon, after apparently taking a new psychoactive substance (NPS), formerly known as a legal high.
She was taken to Torbay District Hospital at around 4.50am on July 15 and died there later with her parents at her bedside.
Two other girls, believed to have taken the same substance, were taken to hospital as a precaution and released later.
Family pay touching tribute to Leah Kerry, the 15-year-old girl who died in a drug related death in Newton Abbot. https://t.co/maiFiDOYKQ pic.twitter.com/P8xUrVwe4g
— DevonCornwall Police (@DC_Police) July 24, 2017
In a statement issued through Devon and Cornwall Police, Leah’s family described her death as “the most painful experience that we have all ever had to endure”.
“Leah was a delightful strong-willed, caring and compassionate child and had developed into a courageous and confident young woman who was ready to take on the world,” they said.
“Leah had really started to engage in her education and for the first time since leaving primary school, felt very well accepted and supported by her school setting in Salisbury.
“She had a real love of expensive make-up products and ambitions of following her dreams of doing make-up and beauty professionally.
“This was a talent that she had already mastered on herself, Leah loved to look nice, she would never leave the house without her Jeffrey Star Highlighter being over zealously applied and she shimmered and shone her way through her life.”
UPDATE: A man has been charged following the death of a 15-year-old girl in Newton Abbot at the weekend. https://t.co/B7LCzQvJaS pic.twitter.com/zYvLzDiXwk
— DevonCornwall Police (@DC_Police) July 17, 2017
The family said Leah lit up “any room she walked into with her incredible personality, sense of humour, striking looks and demeanour”.
“Leah had the benefit of good information and advice from many different sources at various intervals of her adolescent life,” her family added.
“Leah was well aware of the nature of different illicit substances and the risks attached. “Sadly, despite being well aware of the risks, she thought she was invincible and she rolled the dice and has paid the ultimate price.”
The family also asked for the government to place the dangers of psychoactive substances at the top of their agenda following the Drugs Strategy for 2017, published the day before Leah’s death.
The Psychoactive Substances Act, which came into effect in May 2016, made it illegal to produce, supply or import NPS for human consumption.
Jacob Khanlarian, 20, from Newton Abbot, has been charged with two counts of supplying MDMA and one count of supplying cannabis.
He appeared at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court on July 17 and was remanded in custody.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here