‘Vomiting blood and shaking uncontrollably’ – Funding cuts mean addicts left to fight disease alone
Craig sits on the edge of his chair, his hands shaking as he looks blankly at the church wall.
He’s fighting a withdrawal from crack and alcohol that rattles through his body.
His eyes are empty, but you can sense the turmoil he’s fighting.
Some 20 years of addiction has left him teetering on the edge of life and death – and he knows it all too well.
“I’ve been told by a few doctors, if you don’t stop you will be dead soon. Your body can’t take much more of this.”
Craig’s been an addict for 20 years
More and more people are dying and Craig’s lost friends along the way.
Since 2012, drug deaths in England and Wales have almost doubled, rising from 2,597 to 4,859 deaths in 2021 according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
Craig’s enveloped by his yellow hoodie which only emphasises the yellow tinge of sickness in his skin.
He’s swallowed up by the luminous fabric, he seems so small, but this is the heaviest he’s been in a long time – 15 days sober and he’s put on a stone in weight.
He went cold turkey to get accepted into a rehabilitation centre.
Spots are few and far between and local authorities often ask addicts to show they’re willing to “do the work” by getting sober, or at least significantly reducing their intake, before they get approved for rehab funding.
Over the last 10 years councils have cut funding by half in real terms according to analysis shared with Sky News from UK Addiction Treatment Centres, the UK’s largest supplier of rehabilitation services.
In 2013, 31% of the public health grant (£828m) was spent on drug and alcohol addiction services, but that’s dropped to 16% (£608m).
And when looking at drug addiction treatment services alone, funding has dropped by a third in a decade – that’s before considering the effects of inflation.
In 2013, £569m was spent on drug addiction support services; in 2023 that funding is forecast at £379m despite the need for life saving treatment being more urgent than ever.
Detox or die
Detoxing on your own can kill you but for Craig the risk is worth it.
A spot in rehab is his golden ticket to a new life, a ticket that will whisk him away from the monster that’s always on his heels.
“You’re not supposed to do it, just stop, because you can die. I were really, really ill for four days.
“I was vomiting blood and shaking uncontrollably.”
A tear rises up to his eyes, but he swallows it back down. He says he’s just been through some of the worst days of his life and the pain is palpable.
Addicts like Craig can sign up to a medical detox before rehab, but the waiting list can be months long, and once you’re clean you join the queue for rehab which can take another six months – time Craig said he doesn’t have.
“It’ll only be a matter of time before I start drinking and doing drugs again.
“Something could just trigger me and then, I’m stubborn, I’ll just go and get a can or a bottle and the spiral starts again.
“I’ve been stealing from supermarkets, it’s got that bad.”
Craig knows he’s just weeks away from getting help, but no one, including himself, knows if he’ll get there.
He’s been here before, about to get in and then back to square one all because he relapsed.
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Who’s responsible for the cuts?
There are thousands of people like Craig waiting for help and support workers say addiction treatment services are more stretched than ever.
The Local Government Association acknowledged “the enormous funding pressures that vital addiction services are under” but it said this is “due to cuts in funding by central government”.
In July 2021, Dame Carol Black’s report into drug treatment services said the system is “not fit for purpose” and that cuts had left services “on their knees”.
In response, the Department for Health and Social Care published its long-term drug strategy in December 2021 which pledged to spend £538m on improving addiction treatment services by the end of 2025.
So far £103m of that fund has been rolled out in April this year.
But services say it’s too little too late.
Julie Rigby, Senior Support worker at Oasis Recovery Runcorn said: “We’re seeing a general decline in funded places for people that are coming in from the local authority. Over the last few years it’s decreased by at least 50%.
“People with drug and alcohol misuse issues that are in the community are desperate, trying to get help, and they just can’t get funding to get through the door.
“People are dying to get into rehab.”
Families destroyed
Karen offered us tea as we sat down in her front room. She’s warm and welcoming but her smile can’t mask the grief hanging over her.
She told us the last year has stood still since she lost her son Kane to a heroin overdose.
Kane was fun-loving and empathetic, the type of guy that would give his last fiver to a homeless person, Karen and her son Adam said.
But Kane had suffered from an 18-year addiction to alcohol that started when he was 16 years old.
“It’s heartbreaking to see somebody you love just ruining their lives, he couldn’t help it, he couldn’t stop himself.
“He would say to me, ‘I need to go into rehab mum, I need help’.
“If he had got the help he needed, I think he could still be here today. And I think he was failed.”
Karen Johnson lost her son Kane to a heroin overdose
In Wiltshire, where Kane lived, the local authority cut funding for addiction treatment services by £2.6m over a decade – the fifth largest cut across the country.
Kane’s brother Adam told Sky News he had been crying out for help but that the life-threatening severity of his addiction had been ignored.
“When he did try to get help he would go to the GP drunk to make sure they knew how bad it was.
“He was totally honest with them, he was up front and clearly needed help.”
Kane’s family hope fresh government funding over the next two years will mean cries for help won’t go ignored and families across the country won’t be torn apart like theirs.
UK
Rail worker who protected passengers during mass stabbing on Huntingdon train discharged from hospital
The train crew member who was seriously injured while trying to protect passengers during a mass stabbing has been discharged from hospital.
Samir Zitouni, 48, known as Sam, was working on board the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) train from Doncaster to London when the attack began in Cambridgeshire on Saturday 1 November.
LNER said Mr Zitouni, who has worked for the firm for more than 20 years, was credited with helping to save multiple lives.
Mr Zitouni had been in a critical condition, having suffered multiple injuries in the incident, but was discharged on Saturday.
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Mahmood praises rail worker
His family said: “We are so grateful for the outpouring of support from the public, and very touched by all the kind words about Sam’s brave actions on the night of the attack.
“While we are really happy to have him home, he still has a significant recovery ahead and we would now like to be left in privacy to care for him as a family.”
Earlier this month, LNER said he has been a “valued member” of staff for over 20 years, working on board as a customer experience host.
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Train mass stabbing: A timeline of events
David Horne, managing director at LNER, said: “In a moment of crisis, Sam did not hesitate as he stepped forward to protect those around him.
“His actions were incredibly brave, and we are so proud of him, and of all our colleagues who acted with such courage that evening. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Sam and his family. We will continue to support them and wish him a full and speedy recovery.”
The attack is understood to have started shortly after the train left Peterborough, with passengers pulling the emergency alarms on the LNER service.
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Police believe train attacker filmed waving knife
Train driver Andrew Johnson, who served in the Royal Navy for 17 years, contacted a signaller and requested an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon station.
11 people were treated in hospital after the mass stabbing – nine were initially reported as having life-threatening injuries.
Anthony Williams, 32, was remanded into custody at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on November 3, charged with 10 counts of attempted murder over the incident.
He will appear at Cambridge Crown Court on 1 December.
Donald Trump has said he will sue the BBC for between $1bn and $5bn over the editing of his speech on Panorama.
The US president confirmed he would be taking legal action against the broadcaster while on Air Force One overnight on Saturday.
“We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week,” he told reporters.
“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
Mr Trump then told reporters he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend, and claimed “the people of the UK are very angry about what happened… because it shows the BBC is fake news”.
The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that an internal memo raised concerns about the BBC’s editing of a speech made by Mr Trump on 6 January 2021, just before a mob rioted at the US Capitol building, on its flagship late-night news programme.
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BBC crisis: How did it happen?
The concerns regard clips spliced together from sections of the president’s speech to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell” in the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election.
Following a backlash, both BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness resigned from their roles.
‘No basis for defamation claim’
On Thursday, the broadcaster officially apologised to the president and added that it was an “error of judgement” and the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.
A spokesperson said that “the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited,” but they also added that “we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim”.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn unless it apologised, retracted the clip, and compensated him.
The US president said he would sue the broadcaster for between $1bn and $5bn. File pic: PA
Legal challenges
But legal experts have said that Mr Trump would face challenges taking the case to court in the UK or the US.
The deadline to bring the case to UK courts, where defamation damages rarely exceed £100,000 ($132,000), has already expired because the documentary aired in October 2024, which is more than one year.
Also because the documentary was not shown in the US, it would be hard to show that Americans thought less of the president because of a programme they could not watch.
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Newsnight allegations
The BBC has said it was looking into fresh allegations, published in The Telegraph, that its Newsnight show also selectively edited footage of the same speech in a report broadcast in June 2022.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”
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A man has been given a 13-month prison sentence for stealing Banksy’s famous Girl With Balloon print from a London gallery.
Larry Fraser, 49, of Beckton, east London, was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to one count of non-residential burglary at Kingston Crown Court on 9 October.
The print, one of the street artist‘s most famous, was stolen from a gallery in New Cavendish Street in London at around 11pm on 8 September last year.
The recovered artwork back in the gallery. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Fraser used a hammer to smash his way through a glass entrance door at the Grove Gallery before stealing the artwork, which was valued at £270,000.
He concealed his identity with a mask, hooded jacket and gloves, but the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad was able to identify him and track him to a location streets away.
He was also caught on CCTV loading the artwork into a van before fleeing the scene.
A second man, 54-year-old James Love, was accused of being the getaway driver in the burglary, but cleared of stealing the print.
Larry Fraser. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Damage to the Grove Gallery after the theft. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Fraser was arrested at his home address on 10 September, within 48 hours of the burglary, and charged the next day.
Officers were able to recover the artwork after executing a warrant on the Isle of Dogs. It has now been returned to the gallery.
Fraser pleaded to the court that he was struggling with a historic drug debt and agreed to steal the work “under a degree of pressure and fear”.
He said he did not know what he would be stealing, nor its value, until the day of the offence.
Fraser was caught on CCTV taking the artwork away from the gallery. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Jeffrey Israel, defending, said Fraser lived with his mother as her principal carer, and had only managed to “break his cycle of drug addiction” after his last prison sentence.
He added that it “would take a bold advocate” to suggest that the value of the print had increased by the burglary, but insisted “that is probably the reality”.
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Judge Anne Brown was unmoved, however, and said the offence was “simply too serious” for a suspended sentence.
“This is a brazen and serious non-domestic burglary,” she said.
“Whilst you did not know the precise value of the print, you obviously understood it to be very valuable.”
She added: “Whilst I am sure there was a high degree of planning, this was not your plan.”
However, Fraser may be eligible for immediate release due to time spent on electronic curfew.
Detective Chief Inspector Scott Mather, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “Banksy’s Girl With Balloon is known across the world – and we reacted immediately to not just bring Fraser to justice but also reunite the artwork with the gallery.
“The speed at which this took place is a testament to the tireless work of the flying squad officers – in total it took just four days for normality to be restored.”
The 2004 artwork was part of a £1.5m collection of 13 Banksy pieces at the gallery.
Gallery manager, Lindor Mehmetaj, said it was “remarkable” for the piece to have been recovered after the theft.
The 29-year-old said: “I was completely, completely shocked, but in a very, very positive way when the Flying Squad showed me the actual artwork.
“It’s very hard to put into words, the weight that comes off your shoulders.”
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