A POLICE solicitor whose son died of a drugs overdose bravely faced the pusher who sold him killer pills before telling him - I'm delighted to hear you're making a new start.

Niamh Astles - who recently became Lancashire police force's first solicitor - bravely looked at the man who had been selling her 16-year-old boy drugs and thanked him for attending the inquest into his death.

Gareth Noone had taken around 15 Temazepam tablets before taking a lethal dose of heroin substitute, methadone.

He was found dead in the bed of his home at Lowerfield, Langho, in October 1995.

The Blackburn inquest heard that Gareth, a bright student, had started smoking cannabis before trying a series of drugs such as ecstasy, LSD and heroin.

Friends told the hearing he had become involved in drugs after befriending Sebastian Burkhadt, 23, who was given a suspended jail sentence for supplying drugs following the death.

Mrs Astles, who was previously a lawyer for Lancashire County Council, said after a verdict of accidental death was recorded on her son: "I would like to thank all the young people for attending the hearing today and particularly to Sebastian. I am delighted to hear you are making a new start in your life."

She broke down in tears as she went on to say: "Gareth died from ignorance. Our family, while devastated by Gareth's death, do not want him to have died in vain.

"We do not want other people to suffer the same fate."

Mr Burkhadt told the inquest that he was given the tablets by his girlfriend, Yolande Pendlebury, of Billington. He said she could "get them free" from her father's chemist in Preston New Road.

He said he had known Gareth as a small child but only became friendly again with him about a month before the death.

Mr Burkhadt, of Ashton, Preston, said he was now working as a graphic artist with his father and added: "If I could have warned Gareth just how dangerous drugs are I would have - I didn't realise just how rapidly he was getting into them." Home Office pathologist Dr David Rutherford said Gareth died after taking Temazepam tablets followed by methadone, which belonged to Mr Burkhadt.

Coroner Andre Rebello recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said: "I am satisfied Gareth was not an addict in the normal sense of the word. He was experimenting with substances which, though illicit, were readily available in his social circle.

"Drugs are no longer someone else's problem.

"It was thought that they just affected families in inner city areas from a poor background. Clearly this is no longer the case."

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