Mum's Desperate Attempts To Wean Son Off Heroin
A DESPERATE mum s efforts to wean her son off heroin were discovered by police when they carried out an armed raid at her home. Angela Loveridge had locked 25-year-old James Curtis into the property – and had bought him various other drugs. The raid must
A DESPERATE mum's efforts to wean her son off heroin were discovered by police when they carried out an armed raid at her home.
Angela Loveridge had locked 25-year-old James Curtis into the property - and had bought him various other drugs.
"The raid must have been very frightening, she was at her wits' end," prosecutor Emma Dmitriev told Ely magistrates on Thursday.
"She had been in consultation with a clinic, and he was due to have an implant to help him come off drugs.
"She had been advised about what drugs he could use, that would not compromise the situation."
Mrs Dmitriev added: "What she was trying to do was something any mother might consider. But of course it was illegal, and the court cannot condone it."
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Loveridge, 44, of Millfield, Littleport, admitted possessing class B amphetamine and class C cannabis on September 26 last year, with intent to supply the drugs to her son James.
The drugs discovered at her home were worth less than £20, the court was told. "This was a very small amount of drugs, Loveridge says he has to have something, and she had been trying absolutely everything to get him off drugs," said Mrs Dmitriev.
"The police conceded that they understood her reasons for doing it."
Mitigating, Hugh Cauthery said Loveridge committed the offences as part of her campaign to eliminate her son's drug habit.
The family had hoped he would have private treatment, for a chemical implant, but that had come to nothing, he explained.
"The police raided the house and took away certain property, and the police accept that my client was not involved."
Loveridge gave her son amphetamine to get him off heroin, he said, and the cannabis was used to calm him down.
"She had the best intentions," he added. "It was what any mother might try to do to assist her son. It was clearly not acceptable, but in the circumstances, understandable."
The court ordered Loveridge to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work, and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.
