ADDICTION DROVE COUPLE TO TRY TO KILL DAUGHTER

Paul Wilkinson reports on the case of a foiled suicide pact by desperate
parents unable to cope with heroin

A couple who plotted to kill their only daughter in a suicide pact escaped
jail yesterday after a judge was told that drugs had forced the crisis in
their lives.

Donald and Diane Hirst had turned first to cannabis and then heroin when Mr
Hirst lost his job and was still unemployed after a year. Previously the
couple, who have been married for 17 years, lived a life of domestic bliss
and doted on their only child, who was born ten years ago.

But their minds and bodies were unable to cope with the effects of their
drug cravings, so late last year they decided to end it all, York Crown
Court was told. They agreed to take their daughter with them because they
loved her so much that they could not bear to leave her behind.

They drove 80 miles from their home to the clifftops on the North Sea coast
at Scarborough, North Yorkshire. There they first smoked heroin and drugged
their daughter before starting to fill their car with fumes through a pipe
connected to the exhaust.

David Bradshaw, for the prosecution, said that it was only by good fortune
that George Hutchinson, a security guard, passed by at 4am and spotted their
darkened vehicle facing out to sea and heard the engine running. He phoned
police on his mobile phone and tore off the piping.

Officers arrived just in time to drag the couple and their daughter out of
the fume-filled saloon. The young girl was unconscious but she revived in
the cold November air. Yesterday Hirst, 43, and his wife, 33, from Athersley
in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, admitted attempting to murder their daughter.
Mr Hirst was put on probation for three years, and his wife was remanded on
bail for reports.

Judge Arthur Myerson, QC told them: "I do not think any term of imprisonment
would punish you more than you have already been punished by these terrible
events.

"I do not think that these courts can have heard any more appalling
consequences of heroin addiction. It is a terrible illustration of the
dangers of drug abuse, which first led to debt and threats and then an
increasing inability to cope with the effects.

"For years yours was a happy and contented household until unemployment
struck. Those years disappeared literally in a puff of heroin smoke, with
the results we are now all aware."

Police recovered a suicide note which read: "This is out of love and
desperation. Never have so few owed so much to so many. Please look after
our animals back home."

Steven Garth, for Hirst, said: "This is an exceptional and tragic case, born
out of a background of desperation. He was a hard-working family man, the
breadwinner, devoted to his wife and daughter.

"Until 1994 it was a stable unit, a normal family who loved their only child
very much indeed. At the age of 40 he lost his job and, despite determined
efforts, found himself on the scrap-heap. He and his wife began smoking
cannabis as an escape and then went on to heroin."

Mr Garth said that debts piled up, both to drug suppliers and in the
household. "In fear and desperation and feeling totally isolated they
decided to end their lives." He added: "It was distorted and disturbed but
they could see no other way out. They loved their daughter too much to leave
her behind so they decided to take her with them."

Ken Gillance, for Diane Hirst, said: "Now she is only too glad her daughter
survived. She is a devoted mother and loyal wife, who followed her husband
but thought at all times her daughter could be excluded from this."

The couple left court hand in hand. Outside Diane Hirst said: "We have been
through a terrible time and the bail conditions meant we could not
associate. We were split apart and our desire now is to get back together as
a family and carry on where we left off. We are now both free of drug
addiction. It has been a terrible chapter in our lives."

Her husband added: "We will rebuild our lives together and be reunited with
our daughter. That is all we now want." Hirst is currently living in a bail
hostel on Tyneside and his wife in one in West Yorkshire. Their daughter is
in the care of social services.

The judge told the couple that when Diane Hirst returns for sentence in a
month he would consider some form of non-custodial sentence and would
recommend that their child be returned to them.