BOREDOM DROVE REBECCA TO DRUGS, SAYS BROTHER

A YOUNG woman who died after injecting herself with her boyfriend's heroin
often took drugs with her brother.

Rebecca Maynard, 20, was found dead in bed by Philip Whitfield the morning
after taking his drugs once he was asleep. A coroner ruled last week that
she had died of an overdose of heroin after watching her boyfriend inject
the drug in Henley, Oxfordshire.

Her older brother, Nathan, told the inquest in Oxford that his sister had
tried most substances including cannabis, Ecstasy, amphetamines and heroin.
But he said yesterday that they both took drugs out of boredom and that she
had probably injected heroin because of stress.

"Although she usually smoked heroin, she did tell me that she had injected
it in the past. Most of it was probably due to stress," he said.

"Becky had used pills and speed. It was a recreational thing and she only
took them at nightclubs. She had smoked pot but stopped after a while and
said she did not like it.

"I knew she had tried heroin because she chased (inhaled the fumes of
burning heroin) with me on a couple of occassions, about six weeks before
her death."

He and Mr Whitfield have now stopped using drugs. Mr Maynard told the
inquest: "People must be told that drink and drugs do not mix as poor Becky
found out. I warned her about this and I told her not to inject as well, I
told her to be careful. But she was stubborn and did things out of the blue
when she was drunk."

He added yesterday: "Youngsters will all try things, but it should be
drummed into everyone's heads that this is what can happen when you use
this drug."

The inquest heard Mr Whitfield describe how he had injected himself with
heroin before he and Miss Maynard, a barmaid, went to bed in September last
year.

"I injected myself and then put my equipment away. I'm a very tidy person
and I never leave it out," he said.

"I know Rebecca might have used heroin before but never in front of me. But
we were in the same room and she watched me."

When he woke up at 10.30am the next day, however, he noticed that his drug
apparatus had been placed on a shelf and that Rebecca was lying very still.

"I touched her and she was cold and her body felt stiff. I knew she was
dead," he said.

Mr Whitfield tried to resuscitate his girlfriend and called emergency
services, but paramedics pronounced her dead.

A post-mortem examination disclosed that she was almost three times over
the legal drink-drive limit and that her system contained heavy traces of
morphine.

Miss Maynard had been described as a "happy and bubbly" person who had a
lots of friends.

Her mother, Joy, said after the inquest: "The problem is youngsters have
the attitude that it won't happen to them. But they need to know that drink
and drugs do not mix.

"This could happen to anyone: you cannot be with them 24 hours a day to
keep an eye on them. I was not concerned about Beccy because she did not
have a drug habit."

Her family's warnings of the dangers of drugs follows the case of Rachel
Whitear, the 21-year-old from Herefordshire whose death was publicised by
her parents. Miss Whitear was photographed lying dead on the floor of a
bedsit holding a syringe.

Miss Maynard's boyfriend had told the inquest that how he had slapped her
face and tried to resuscitate her. "I pulled her down on to the floor and
was on top of her," he said.

The night before she was pronounced dead, Miss Maynard and her two
brothers, Nathan and Joel, had visited two public houses in Henley.

Nathan had told the inquest that his sister had looked "happy" when he and
his brother left the couple at The Argyle.

She and her boyfriend had then visited a nightclub and had gone to sleep
after drinking alcopops.

Miss Maynard had moved back to her home town of Henley in July last year
after spending time in Plymouth, Devon, where she had been staying with her
father after her parents divorced.

She and Mr Whitfield had known each other for a year and the relationship
had developed in the few months leading up to her death on September 6 last
year.

After she returned from Plymouth, she secured a job as a barmaid at The
Argyle, one of the pubs she visited on the night of her death.

The post-mortem examination also revealed a small puncture mark near her
inside left arm. Her brother Nathan added: "I don't know whether she took
drugs that day, but then I was quite drunk myself."

Recording the verdict, Nicholas Gardiner, the Oxfordshire Coroner, said
last week: "Rebecca took heroin after seeing what Philip Whitfield did with
his equipment and supplies."