WHAT DRUGS DID TO LORNA

THE devastated parents of a teenage ecstasy victim have made a courageous
decision to alert other families to the dangers of drugs.

Alan and Liz Spinks requested that a picture showing how their daughter
looked as she died should be published in the hope of saving other young lives.

Hours before, they sat at 19-year-old Lorna's bedside and watched her life
ebb away.

In spite of their grief, the family decided a photograph of the student,
taken in the hospital bed where she had died 10 minutes earlier, should be
released to media.

Angry at the waste of their daughter's life, they said they wanted the
shocking last picture of her to act as a warning to others.

The family also released a picture of Lorna as they will always remember
her -- a bright, attractive young undergraduate enjoying life to the full.

Mrs Spinks said: ``What we saw in the hospital as she was dying was just
not our Lorna.

``When she was dying in front of us, she looked like a monster -- like
someone who had been run down by a truck.''

Lorna's 22-year-old brother, Adrian, added: ``She simply went out for a
good time last Saturday, and now she's dead because she took ecstasy.

``We have released these photographs because we want to contrast a picture
of her being alive and an image of how she was when she was dead.''

A police source said: ``Lorna's parents have taken an extraordinarily
courageous decision.

``The photograph is an image that should haunt every parent -- and every
youngster tempted to dabble in drugs.''

It shows Lorna, her face bloated by the drug and further distorted by an
array of tubes inserted in the vain attempt to save her.

``Ecstasy had affected all her organs -- she was bleeding from
everywhere,'' her mother said. ``Then her heart gave out and she died.''

Mr and Mrs Spinks, who live in France, said they hoped that by speaking
out, they could help prevent similar tragedies.

Mr Spinks, 52, told of attending a drugs awareness lecture at Lorna's
school in Switzerland two years ago, and being horrified when parents
claimed it was not possible their children could ever come into contact
with drugs.

``At our level, we were complacent. We actually said she wasn't taking
anything other than cigarettes and alcohol, and we actually believed
that,'' he said.

``The message is that parents must not be complacent. Adolescents come
across this stuff and other stuff.

``If I understand the statistics, at least half of them will try drugs, so
the message is: we cannot be complacent.''

Lorna's family spoke movingly of the girl who only last year was so full of
life during a family holiday in Greece and who was known by family and
friends as Lovely Lorna and Golden Girl.

The first-year sociology student, who lived at Cambridge, was taken to
hospital after collapsing in a nightclub.

Police believe she took the drugs before going to the club.

Mr Spinks works for a physics research institute, and his wife is an
administrator at the International School, in Geneva, which their children
attended.

They were at their home in the French town of Cessy, close to the Swiss
border, when the hospital telephoned just after 3am last Sunday.

Mr and Mrs Spinks said they knew too little about drug culture to know what
they could have done to protect Lorna.

``How can you tell the difference between taking something that's going to
kill you or supposedly give you a good time?'' Mr Spinks asked.