THE suspected drug overdose of a young dad on Good Friday has sent shockwaves through a Leyland community.

Mark Gillibrand, aged 20, was found dead in Oakfield Drive, Moss Side. He has a two-and-half-year-old daughter.

Marcella Adam, who has lived in neighbouring Wade Hall housing estate - where Mark lived - for 26 years, said her daughter was a friend of his.

People on the estate have been afraid to speak out about the drugs problem they say blights their lives.

But now grandmother Marcella has broken that silence in a bid to push the pushers out of town.

She said: "Mark was a genuine man who had fallen into the drugs culture which seems to have gripped Wade Hall estate."

His death has sparked anger from Marcella and her neighbours in Seven Stars Road who, she said, have called on police and councillors to make drastic changes to prevent another death.

The group is calling for South Ribble Borough Council to deliver a three-year-old promise to create sports and recreation facilities in the estate, to give young people something to do.

They claim the estate has become a target for drug dealers, who prey on bored children, getting them hooked on drugs.

She added: "The only people on the streets are junkies. We daren't let our grandchildren and children play out during the day, for fear of what they may find. There are needles everywhere.

"We tell them to stay away from 'the bad men.' It is the only way we can explain what is going on around them. If things continue to decline the way they have, we dread to think what it will be like when they grow up."

Marcella added: "Dealers come into the estate to sell drugs and get local children hooked on them. It happened to this tragic lad. It will happen again.

"I dread to think of my grandchildren becoming addicts."

Mark's relatives, who live in Wade Hall, were too upset to talk.

Leyland Police said they were aware of the drug problems associated with Wade Hall.

Coun Tony Kelly said: "We are working hard with the police and it is bearing fruit."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.