News NEEDLE PLEA
Diane Barker - pictured with her five children Chiron (7), Caitlin (7), Ellie (6), and twins Sophie and Chanel, both 2 - is pleading with drug-users to stop dumping syringes near her home.
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A warning has gone out to parents after three young children found used syringes just yards from their home.
The discovery was made by the youngsters as they walked with their father along a back lane near Broadway in Goole.
Philip Barker and his children Chiron (7), Caitlin (7) and six-year-old Ellie were near their home on Broadside when they found the two dirty syringes in the bottom of a hedge. It later emerged that other neighbours had found syringes used for injecting drugs at the same spot.
Diane Barker (26), the mother of the three children who found the syringe, said: "We couldn't believe it - it's absolutely disgusting. Fair enough if they are going to do it, but at least take them home or put them somewhere, in a bin or something."
The family reported the discovery to the police and Environmental Health, and a neighbour then removed the syringes from the hedge. But Mrs Barker and other parents are worried the drugs problem in the area is getting worse and that, before much longer, a child is going to pick up a used syringe and put themselves at risk of becoming contaminated by HIV or another deadly disease.
The mum-of-five said: "These people are hanging about all the time around Broadway. When my husband was taking photos of the syringes there were two young men there just staring at him and the kids."
She added: "Some of the kids are going to know what they (the syringes) are; they are aware of things like that. But what if others think it's a pen and they take the lid off? It could happen - they're that young.
"You can have four or five kids playing in the back lane at any one time. All it takes is for one of them to pick one of these syringes up and they could catch anything."
Mr Barker (29) said: "There are lots of druggies around here. They can do as they like so long as they don't bother other people, but when they do things like that it affects other people's lives. There are 15-to-20 kids who play on that back lane in the summer holidays, including my eldest children. If they pick one of these things up they could get hepatitis or anything." Mr Barker said the drugs-takers were well-known in the area. "We know who they are but we give them a wide berth," he said.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said the dumping of syringes was commonplace on the back lane, which was used as a meeting place for drug-users and heroin-dealers. She said the problem was so bad she wouldn't let her children out on their own.
The mother-of-three said that, about six weeks ago, she found three used syringes in as many days. She added: "I've found them a few times at the top of the back lane and moved them. The worry is if the kids might find them and what would happen to them." She added: "These people come here to deal heroin - it's getting worse, really bad."
The woman issued an impassioned plea for the people dumping the syringes to stop. "We want them to please just stop - think of other people. We have got young children. They can do what they want with their own lives but not other people's lives."
The woman said Broadway was becoming a "drugs hotspot", adding: "I daren't let the kids go out and play on the lane."
Another resident, who also asked to remain anonymous, said he had also found a syringe in the hedge. On that occasion also there were two youngsters nearby who stared at him.
"There's been dealing going on for years, but we don't know who it is," he said. "They're dealing in crack and smack."
A spokeswoman for Environmental Health said an official had been sent down on Wednesday to remove any syringes that were still there. She added: "If and when incidents are reported to us we will go out and arrange a safe collection and disposal. Our advice to the public is not to touch them (the syringes)."
Published on 21st August 2008 in News.
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