ACTOR MURRAY'S FAMILY HELL AS DAUGHTER (14) BEGAN TO DESCEND INTO SEEDY
DRUGS WORLD

ACTOR Bill Murray and his wife Elaine suffered every parent's nightmare when
their 14-year-old daughter began to descend into a seedy world of drugs and
crime.

Their first indications of trouble came in late 1997 when the youngster, who
cannot be named for legal reasons, began staying out all night and lying
about being at friends' homes.

The couple's worst fears were confirmed when they read their daughter's
diary in which she talked of od-ing (overdosing) and getting stoned.

The TV star learned that she was associating with two known heroin addicts
in Brentwood, Essex - Brian Basquill, 23, and Andrew Joyce, 20 - and staying
in flats known locally as drugs dens.

The actor sobbed as he told the jury how his nightmare deepened and his
daughter's troubles increased.

His daughter had stolen her mother's cash card, withdrawn A3750 and given
it to Mr Basquill to buy drugs, been expelled from school, and lied to
friends about her father beating her. She had also repeatedly run away from
home, disappearing for days at a stretch.

Asked how he felt about his daughter's predicament, Mr Murray told the jury:
"You cannot imagine."

And he had told police: "My wife was approaching a nervous breakdown - I
think we both were. I had lost about a stone-and-a-half in weight."

Murray and his wife spent many hours visiting known drugs dens in repeated
searches for their daughter.

Police were often called in and would eventually bring her home. And Mr
Murray learned many of the parents in the Brentwood area were in the same
boat.

During his searches he would often come across parents, police and teachers
searching for missing youngsters.

Eventually his daughter told how she was in love with Mr Basquill. She said
she planned to go to Manchester with him, where his ambition was to be a
major drugs dealer.

At one point, the actor agreed to leave his family home and live alone in
east London in the hope that such a move would help his daughter overcome
her problems.

He feared he was being too strict with his daughter and was adding to the
difficulties.

The court was told that Mr Basquill had convictions for theft and possession
of drugs. Mr Joyce had been accused of stealing his parents' credit card -
although not charged.

Both admitted being addicted to heroin - although they said they were now
reformed - and to taking other drugs.

Mr Joyce said Mr Basquill's ambition was to get everyone in Essex addicted
to heroin.

Mr Basquill had also told Mr Murray's daughter that he could not wait to get
her on the brown stuff (heroin), the jury heard.

Both men lived in flats which were generally known to be drugs dens. Mr
Joyce' s bedsit was known locally as The House of Horrors. TV star Mr Murray
described it as a Fagin's Den.

Both flats were a magnet for local teenagers who would play truant from
school in order to party, the court heard.

Mr Murray said he had paid a major part in persuading the authorities to
close down Mr Joyce's bedsit.

He said his daughter, now 15, was much better, reconciled with her parents
and being educated outside Brentwood.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst