A TEENAGE girl broke down in tears during a glittering ceremony last night when she told the Prince of Wales how her best friend died after inhaling lighter fuel.

Jenni Wainwright was invited to St James' Palace as a shining example of how the Prince's Trust had helped to rebuild her life after she was homeless, jobless and facing a bleak future.

During the party, she thanked the Prince for helping her to fight back from the brink of despair.

But she wept as she spoke about her 20-year-old friend Nicky Walmsley whom she had lived with at the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) hostel in East Park Road, Blackburn.

An inquest was told last month how Nicky collapsed and died in December after sniffing lighter fuel, despite frantic efforts to revive her.

The hearing heard that Nicky, whose mother lived in Sunnyhurst Lane, Darwen, had turned to solvent abuse to forget her past and East Lancashire coroner David Smith recorded a misadventure verdict.

Her mother Mrs Barbara Walmsley said she was a perfectly happy girl until the age of 12 when her personality changed.

Last night's audience of 300 at the London palace, including TV comic Ben Elton and Radio One DJ Zoe Ball, were reduced to tears as Jenni spoke of her special friendship with Nicky. Jenni, who now works as a clerk at Farleys Solicitors, Accrington, wept as she told the Prince that Nicky had not meant to kill herself. She said: "She took her own life in her hands because she gave up hope."

She told the stunned audience how her life had been transformed from living in the hostel with Nicky to moving into her own home and getting a job at a legal firm.

Jenni added that the Prince's Trust had helped her to fight her way back from the brink.

She said: "I had left home and was confronted by a world of violence and drugs.

"The Prince's Trust gave me back my confidence and my life."

Jenni, who now rents her own home in the Accrington area, said her life changed when she attended a Prince's Trust Action residential course in Dorset.

TV celebrity Ben Elton, who is a Prince's Trust volunteer, told the Prince that Jenny's story had reduced him to tears.

"I was crying in there. I defy anyone not to be moved."

Susan Owen, project manager at the YWCA, said: "Jenni was a good friend of Nicky. She is a great ambassador for the Prince's Trust."

Richard Marsh, chairman of Prince's Trust Action in Lancashire, said: "She is articulate and has a knack of being able to explain how she has fulfilled her potential."

"She made a similar speech to myself and other people at County Hall six months ago and that was very emotional."

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