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“It was an all consuming fear that I would just stop breathing in my sleep, but still, all I wanted was to take more.”

“I approached my own son in the street asking for drugs, that’s how low I was, benzos just destroyed my life.”

These are the stories of two separate people with the same catastrophic addiction to a prescription drug.

Thirty years apart in age and 200 miles apart in distance, their stories are scarily similar.

I meet Rory Maslen (they/them), 21, at their university flat in Leeds. As Rory sank into the sofa, they look at me with a timid smile.

They’re about to talk me through haunted years. The ones filled with an undying desperation to guzzle more of the drug that was killing them.

Benzo story - Rory Maslen
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Rory Maslen would ‘eat pills by the handful’

Inside the four walls of Rory’s university room once lived anxiety, depression and what they thought was the remedy – benzos.

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“There were weeks at a time when the only reason I would leave my accommodation was to go and pick up a few boxes of pills.

“I was literally eating pills by the handful just to get through the day.”

Across the border in Edinburgh, William Anderson, 53, sits in his temporary accommodation generously recounting his painful tale, as I hang on his every word.

“After my daughter died when I was 19, I turned to benzos to cope with the grief.

“I got them prescribed by the doctor – seven pills a day – but when that wasn’t enough I started getting them on the street too.”

Benzo story - William Anderson
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William Anderson turned to benzos following the death of his daughter

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What are benzos?

Benzodiazepines are anti-anxiety prescription drugs that have flooded the illicit market.

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What are Benzos?

The drug is supposed to be prescribed, but thousands of vulnerable people across the UK are buying dangerous street benzos to self-medicate according to charities like Turning Point and UKAT.

And now testing services are raising the alarm after finding street benzos sold for as little as 10p are being cut with a synthetic opioid 10 times stronger than Fentanyl.

‘Stripped of any free will’

What began as self-medication for Rory turned into self destruction.

“Before I knew it, I was completely stripped of any free will, any major thought in my head all the time was focused on getting more benzos.”

Rory told me they were taking 30 benzo pills per day when they started experiencing life threatening seizures and side effects.

Benzo story - Rory Maslen
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Rory’s excessive drug consumption led to life threatening seizures and other side effects

“Your muscles hurt, your bones hurt, you have constant tremors and if you go outside in the sun it feels like your eyes are burning. You’re hot and cold, more so than I’ve ever felt ever before.”

‘Approached my own son for drugs’

For Will, a lifetime of trauma, grief and isolation drove him to dive head first into what he calls “benzo oblivion”.

Taking 100 pills a day and selling benzos to fuel his addiction, Will was on the edge of death.

After a 20 year battle with benzos, Will tells me he tried to take his own life. The amount of benzos he took knocked him out for four days, but still he continued using.

“The lowest moment of my life was approaching a group of guys in the street and asking for drugs.

“When I looked up I realised it was my own son – the only son that was still in contact with me.

“The look of shame he had was the worst feeling in the world.

“The next morning I woke up and screamed in the mirror, you either live or you die.”

Will has been sober ever since that day.

Benzo story - William Anderson
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William is now sober and created a support group to help others

He created his own support group called “Oor Willie”, which now has over 1,700 members, and he trained with the Scottish Drugs Forum qualifying as an addiction support worker in August.

It was Rory’s passion for music and their drive to get back to playing with their band Kiosk that gave them the courage to bear through and taper off the benzos with the support of their family.

When I asked Rory and Will what they would say to young people considering self-medicating with benzos now, their response was the same.

“Drugs aren’t the answer.”

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Fourteen children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over Gateshead fire released on bail

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Fourteen children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over Gateshead fire released on bail

All 14 children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after a boy died in a fire have been released on police bail, officers said.

Layton Carr, 14, was found dead near the site of a fire at Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area of Gateshead on Friday.

Northumbria Police said on Saturday that they had arrested 11 boys and three girls in connection with the incident.

In an update on Sunday, a Northumbria Police spokesman said: “All those arrested have since been released on police bail pending further inquiries.”

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Teenager dies in industrial estate fire

Firefighters raced to the industrial site shortly after 8pm on Friday, putting out the blaze a short time later.

Police then issued an appeal for Carr, who was believed to be in the area at that time.

In a statement on Saturday, the force said that “sadly, following searches, a body believed to be that of 14-year-old Layton Carr was located deceased inside the building”.

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David Thompson, headteacher of Hebburn Comprehensive School, where Layton was a pupil, said the school community was “heartbroken”.

Mr Thompson described him as a “valued and much-loved member of Year 9” and said he would be “greatly missed by everyone”.

He added that the school’s “sincere condolences” were with Layton’s family and that the community would “rally together to support one another through this tragedy”.

A fundraising page on GoFundMe has been set up to help Layton’s mother pay for funeral costs.

Pic: Gofundme
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Pic: Gofundme

Organiser Stephanie Simpson said: “The last thing Georgia needs to stress trying to pay for a funeral for her Boy Any donations will help thank you.”

One tribute in a Facebook post read: “Can’t believe I’m writing this my nephew RIP Layton 💔 forever 14 you’ll be a massive miss, thinking of my sister and 2 beautiful nieces right now.”

Detective Chief Inspector Louise Jenkins, of Northumbria Police, also said: “This is an extremely tragic incident where a boy has sadly lost his life.”

She added that the force’s “thoughts are with Layton’s family as they begin to attempt to process the loss of their loved one”.

They are working to establish “the full circumstances surrounding the incident” and officers will be in the area to “offer reassurance to the public”, she added.

A cordon remains in place at the site while police carry out enquiries.

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Football bodies could be forced to pay towards brain injury care costs of ex-players

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Football bodies could be forced to pay towards brain injury care costs of ex-players

Football bodies could be forced to pay towards the care costs of ex-players who have been diagnosed with brain conditions, under proposals set to be considered by MPs.

Campaigners are drafting amendments to the Football Governance Bill, which would treat conditions caused by heading balls as an “industrial injuries issue”.

The proposals seek to require the football industry to provide the necessary financial support.

Campaigners say existing support is not fit for purpose, including the Brain Health Fund which was set up with an initial £1m by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), supported by the Premier League.

But the Premier League said the fund has supported 121 families with at-home adaptations and care home fees.

From England‘s 1966 World Cup-winning team, both Jack and Bobby Charlton died with dementia, as did Martin Peters, Ray Wilson and Nobby Stiles.

Neil Ruddock speaks to Sky's Rob Harris outside parliament
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Neil Ruddock speaks to Sky’s Rob Harris outside parliament

Ex-players, including former Liverpool defender Neil Ruddock, went to parliament last week to lobby MPs.

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Ruddock told Sky News he had joined campaigners “for the families who’ve gone through hell”.

“A professional footballer, greatest job in the world, but no one knew the dangers, and that’s scary,” he said.

“Every time someone heads a ball it’s got to be dangerous to you. You know, I used to head 100 balls a day in training. I didn’t realise that might affect my future.”

A study co-funded by the PFA and the Football Association (FA) in 2019 found footballers were three and a half times more likely to die of a neurodegenerative disease than members of the public of the same age.

‘In denial’

Among those calling on football authorities to contribute towards the care costs of ex-players who have gone on to develop conditions such as Alzheimer’s and dementia is Labour MP Chris Evans.

Mr Evans, who represents Caerphilly in South Wales, hopes to amend the Bill to establish a care and financial support scheme for ex-footballers and told a recent event in parliament that affected ex-players “deserve to be compensated”.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who helped to draft the amendment, said the game was “in denial about the whole thing”.

Mr Burnham called for it to be seen as “an industrial injuries issue in the same way with mining”.

In January, David Beckham lent his support to calls for greater support for footballers affected by dementia.

One of the amendments says that “the industry rather than the public should bear the financial burden”.

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A spokesperson for the FA said it was taking a “leading role in reviewing and improving the safety of our game” and that it had “already taken many proactive steps to review and address potential risk factors”.

An English Football League spokesperson said it was “working closely with other football bodies” to ensure both professional and grassroots football are “as safe as it can be”.

The PFA and Premier League declined to comment.

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Terror arrests came in context of raised warnings about Iran, with ongoing chaos in its own backyard

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Terror arrests came in context of raised warnings about Iran, with ongoing chaos in its own backyard

These are two separate and unrelated investigations by counter-terror officers.

But the common thread is nationality – seven out of the eight people arrested are Iranian.

And that comes in the context of increased warnings from government and the security services about Iranian activity on British soil.

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Counter terror officers raid property

Last year, the director general of MI5, Ken McCallum, said his organisation and police had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents since January 2022.

He linked that increase to the ongoing situation in Iran’s own backyard.

“As events unfold in the Middle East, we will give our fullest attention to the risk of an increase in – or a broadening of – Iranian state aggression in the UK,” he said.

The implication is that even as Iran grapples with a rapidly changing situation in its own region, having seen its proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, decimated and itself coming under Israeli attack, it may seek avenues further abroad.

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The government reiterated this warning only a few weeks ago, with security minister Dan Jarvis addressing parliament.

“The threat from Iran sits in a wider context of the growing, diversifying and evolving threat that the UK faces from malign activity by a number of states,” Jarvis said.

“The threat from states has become increasingly interconnected in nature, blurring the lines between: domestic and international; online and offline; and states and their proxies.

“Turning specifically to Iran, the regime has become increasingly emboldened, asserting itself more aggressively to advance their objectives and undermine ours.”

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Anybody working for Iran in UK must register or face jail, government announces

As part of that address, Jarvis highlighted the National Security Act 2023, which “criminalises assisting a foreign intelligence service”, among other things.

So it was notable that this was the act used in one of this weekend’s investigations.

The suspects were detained under section 27 of the same act, which allows police to arrest those suspected of being “involved in foreign power threat activity”.

Those powers are apparently being put to use.

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