Teenager died after 'family friends' gave her ecstasy pills

12 April 2012

The heartbroken mother of a schoolgirl who died after taking ecstasy pills has condemned the two family friends who gave her the drug.

Trudy Williams, 15, collapsed and died after being given Ecstasy by Mike Gold and Kirsty Netherwell, who were supposed to be looking after her.

As Gold, 47, and Netherwell, 22, each admitted a charge of supplying the teenager the drug, her mother Michelle O'Connor told how they have destroyed her life.

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Family photo: Trudy Williams died after being given Ecstasy

Mrs O'Connor sobbed as she said she could never forgive the pair. She pleaded with other youngsters not to take drugs.

"They have destroyed her life and they have destroyed our lives. It's just beyond belief," said Mrs O'Connor, 34, from Southampton.

"I will never know why a 47-year-old man would want to give my teenage daughter a pill. I have never known hate like I know it now for those two. I will never forgive them for what they've done.

"What really hurts me is that they were supposed to be looking after her and that's exactly what they failed to do."

Trudy had only just turned 15 when she went to stay with Netherwell in Bognor Regis, West Sussex.

Chichester Crown Court heard that Netherwell was a trusted family friend and Trudy enjoyed visiting her in her summer holidays.

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Guilty: Family friends Kirsty Netherwell and Mike Gold

On August 24 last year, the teenager was invited to her flat for a party with several of Netherwell's friends, including Gold.

During the evening both Gold and Netherwell handed Trudy ecstasy tablets. At around midnight the youngster said she was going for a walk. She never returned and was found slumped dead in the stairwell of the flats.

A pathology report showed she had been drinking alcohol and had taken a lethal quantity of ecstasy.

Scores of mourners attended Trudy's funeral in Southampton before laying roses on her coffin, which had been decorated in pink, her favourite colour.

Her mother added: "What we have had to go through has been horrific. All I can say to any parent is just speak to your kids. No one should have to live with the memories we now do.

"I always thought the first time I'd be in church with my little girl was with her in a wedding dress, not following her coffin."

She added that Trudy's father Tony, 36, and brother Michael, 15, were devastated by her death.

Netherwell was in a relationship with Trudy's uncle when she met the schoolgirl.

Mrs O'Connor said she felt safe letting Trudy stay with her because they had become good friends.

She said: "I would never have let her go if I'd even imagined they were abusing drugs.

"We used to warn Trudy to stay away from drugs and I'm sure having talked to her friends that this would have been her first try."

Gold, of Selsey, West Sussex, and Netherwell will be sentenced on December 17.

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