‘I approached my own son for drugs’: Life at the centre of the benzo crisis
“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.
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
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.”
A man has been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the ship collision in the North Sea.
Humberside Police said the 59-year-old is in custody to allow enquiries to take place, and officers are talking to those involved to find out what happened.
The force added investigators have started a criminal probe into the cause of the collision between the Stena Immaculate and Solong off the coast of East Yorkshire on Monday, and are working with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Ernst Russ, the owner of Solong, later confirmed the man detained was the ship’s captain. The shipping firm called him “the master of the ship” – which is understood to be the same as a captain.
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Sky News above North Sea ship collision
One person remains missing and is presumed dead after emergency services stopped their search on Monday evening.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch is also involved in early work to determine what caused the two vessels to collide.
Read more: What we know about the collision
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Map shows moment of collision in North Sea
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Superintendent Craig Nicholson, said: “Humberside Police have taken primacy for the investigation of any potential criminal offences which arise from the collision between the two vessels.
“Extensive work has already been carried out, and we are working closely with our partners to understand what happened, and to provide support to all of those affected.
“Following enquiries undertaken by my team, we have arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the collision, this follows the conclusion of search operations by HM Coastguard for the missing crew member of the SOLONG.”
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North Sea: Sailor presumed dead
He added: “Our thoughts are with the family of the missing crew member, and I have appointed family liaison officers to make contact and provide support to the family.
“The man arrested remains in custody at this time whilst enquiries are under way, and we continue speaking with all those involved to establish the full circumstances of the incident.”
Ernst Russ added in a later statement that it could confirm the master of the Solong “has been detained by Humberside Police in the UK”.
“The master and our entire team are actively assisting with the investigations,” the shipping firm said.
“Out of respect for the investigation and all involved we will not comment further at this time.”
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Oil tanker collision could have lethal ecological impact
Sky News above North Sea ship collision
HM Coastguard said in an update that the Solong is still alight
US tanker Stena Immaculate was anchored off the coast of East Yorkshire when the Solong crashed into it at around 9.45am on Monday.
Some 36 people were brought safely to the shore, but one person was reported missing from the cargo ship.
At least one tank of Jet-A1 fuel onboard the Stena Immaculate was ruptured, its operator said
At around 11.20pm, the Solong started to drift southwards away from the crash site. HM Coastguard said in an update earlier on Tuesday that the ship is still alight.
Tugboats are in the vicinity to ensure it remains away from the coast
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the container ship is expected to stay afloat, after a minister told parliament that it could sink earlier in the day.
She said she met with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s chief executive Virginia McVea, and was “pleased to have been informed that early indications suggest that both vessels are now expected to stay afloat”.
Ernst Russ also denied reports the vessel was carrying sodium cyanide and said: “There are four empty containers that have previously contained the hazardous chemical.
“These containers will continue to be monitored.”
Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels of Jet-A1 fuel in 16 tanks, at least one of which was ruptured, its operator also said.
UK
Triple killer Kyle Clifford will serve whole-life sentence for murdering BBC commentator’s family
Triple killer Kyle Clifford has been handed a whole-life sentence for murdering his ex-girlfriend, her mother and her sister.
Warning: This article contains distressing details.
The sentence imposed by Mr Justice Bennathan means he will never be released.
The former soldier, 26, admitted murdering BBC racing commentator John Hunt’s wife Carol Hunt, 61, and their daughters Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28.
He also pleaded guilty to false imprisonment of his former partner Louise, as well as possession of the crossbow used to kill her and her sister, and the 10-inch butcher’s knife he stabbed their mother to death with.
Louise Hunt
Pic: Facebook
Clifford denied raping Louise, who had broken up with him 13 days before the four-hour attack in the Hunt family home on 9 July last year.
But he was found guilty by a jury last week after a trial at Cambridge Crown Court, which he refused to attend, prompting police and prosecutors to brand him a “coward”.
The judge paid tribute “to the astonishing dignity and courage” of the victims’ family, including John Hunt and his surviving daughter Amy, who hugged after the sentence.
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Footage shows Clifford fleeing the Hunt family home
They, along with Hannah’s partner Alex Klein, had read emotional victim impact statements in court as Mr Hunt said hell would roll out the “red carpet” for him.
He said the evidence showed Clifford “to be a jealous man, soaked in self-pity – a man who holds women in utter contempt”.
The court heard Clifford, from Enfield, north London, began planning the murders after Louise ended their 18-month relationship in a message on 26 June.
Carol Hunt pictured with her husband John Hunt.
Pic: Facebook
He tricked his way inside before stabbing her mother to death in what prosecutors said was a “brutal knife attack”, then lay in wait for an hour for Louise to enter the house.
Clifford held her for more than two hours, as he restrained her with duct tape and raped her, then shot her through the chest with a crossbow moments before her sister Hannah got home and was also killed.
He fled the scene and shot himself with the weapon as armed police descended and is now paralysed from the chest down.
The recovered crossbow.
Pic: Hertfordshire Police
The 10-inch butcher’s knife Clifford used was never found but police released an image of the packaging.
Pic: PA
The judge told Clifford, who didn’t attend his sentencing hearing, he went to the Hunt family home to launch “a murderous attack” on his ex-girlfriend’s family.
“You first killed her mother Carol, who even on that day showed you nothing but kindness in the moments before you attacked her,” he said.
“You raped and killed Louise who had been as gentle as she could in ending her relationship with you, after your arrogance and anger proved too much for her to stand.
“Then you murdered Hannah Hunt, who had done nothing to harm you save supporting her little sister.”
The jury wasn’t told Clifford had searched for Andrew Tate’s podcast less than 24 hours before the murders.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said “it is no coincidence” he turned to the “poster boy for misogynists – a poster boy for those who view women as possession to be controlled” the night before committing such “acts of violence against women”.
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