Why father’s drug use spiralled – and now he takes them in a ‘cage’

Published

2 years ago

February 10, 2024

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As a homeless father, Dave says taking drugs is the only thing that puts him to sleep.

Under their influence, he’s no longer “bothered about sleeping on the streets” or “worrying about the cold”.

“If I had a nice warm flat, I’d give it up like that,” he says.

The number of people dying from drug misuse in England and Wales is at a record level, while Scotland has the highest rate of drug-related deaths in Europe.

So could drug consumption rooms – where illegal substances are allowed to be taken under supervision – be the answer?

In Sandwell, West Midlands, Dave (not his real name) takes drugs in a disused storage unit at the back of a car park – and calls it “the cage”.

“There’s nowhere else,” he says.

He cleans the area behind the high street and locks the metal gate to prevent children getting inside, mindful of the risk of any used needles being left lying around.

“It just makes me think… what if my daughter trod on one?” he says.

He doesn’t reveal which illegal drugs he takes but says his use spiralled when he became homeless after a break-up.

He no longer sees his daughter or ex-partner.

Dave’s “cage” is one of many areas used as public injection sites across the UK – including underground car parks, stairwells and bin alleys.

Syringes and makeshift tourniquets lie among the fallen leaves, rubbish and debris near a bypass in Sandwell.

“It’s not difficult to understand… why people develop infections and become ill,” says Sue McCutcheon, an advanced nurse practitioner.

Drug deaths at record high

A total of 3,127 drug misuse deaths were recorded in England and Wales in 2022 – that’s an average of eight people a day.

To put this into context, it’s about the same number of people who died from stomach cancer (3,230 deaths in 2022). But the difference is drug misuse deaths are preventable.

Some 1,051 people in Scotland died from drug misuse in 2022 – its lowest number since 2017 but it remains the highest rate of any country in Europe.

These figures are also underestimates, the Office for National Statistics says, as the specific drugs involved in a death is not always known.

Drug misuse deaths are recorded as those where the underlying cause is drug abuse or drug dependence, or where any of the substances involved are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

In a bid to reduce the harm around injecting drugs, some countries have introduced overdose prevention centres (OPCs) – also known as drug consumption rooms.

There are around 200 across the world in 17 countries, and Scotland has been given the go-ahead to introduce one this year.

“Most people think inside the drug consumption room it’s fun, everybody’s coming here and doing drugs and high,” says Elisabeth Avril, a GP and director of Espace Gaia, a government-funded centre in Paris.

Most of the 150 people who visit at least once a day are people like Peter Bancelin, who is suffering from withdrawal.

“We often say we come for treatment,” he says.

Before the centre opened, Peter describes “unbearable conditions” with discarded syringes on the floor of public areas and users taking drugs “between cars (with) people passing by to bring their children to school”.

Inside a drug consumption room

Users enter one by one to register, pick up clean equipment and use drugs with a nurse on hand in a room with stainless steel desks, plastic chairs and needle bins.

Staff do not handle the drugs at any point. Users then have access to a “rest room” before they leave.

The centre – which is open seven days a week between 9.30am to 8.30pm – has allowed Peter to do official paperwork, find company and get off the streets.

“Little by little, it’s allowed me to get back on track,” he says.

A study led by Queen’s University Belfast released last month – believed to be the largest evidence review of OPCs worldwide – found they could prevent thousands of deaths and reduce the spread of serious disease.

But the UK government does not support their use and they won’t be allowed in England and Wales over concerns they risk condoning and encouraging the use of illegal drugs.

And not everyone is on board with drug consumption rooms in Paris. There were protests from some residents after the city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, signalled she would open four more drug consumption rooms in the French capital.

“Drug policy is not based on evidence – it’s more based on people’s moral preferences,” says Dr Alex Stevens, a criminal justice professor at Kent University, who used to be on the government’s drug advisory committee.

“There’s nobody claiming that an overdose prevention centre is going to solve all the problems we have with drugs.

“But for the people who are most vulnerable to dying, that’s something that can help them continue to stay alive so they can get their lives together.”

In Sandwell, Dave says he would be worried about the police if a drug consumption room was to open near him.

“Where are you going if you’re looking for a shoplifter?” he asks.

What we know about UK’s first drug consumption room

Scotland is set to be home to the UK’s first drug consumption room.

Plans have been approved for a £2.3m facility at Hunter Street Health Centre in Glasgow – despite opposition from Westminster.

However the UK government has said it will not intervene to stop the pilot scheme.

The drug consumption room in Glasgow is due to open this year – although a date is yet to be set.

It would allow those struggling with addiction to take drugs under supervision from medical professionals, who could intervene in the event of an overdose.

Scotland’s top law officer Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC has said it would “not be in the public interest” to prosecute people in a drug consumption room with possession of illegal substances.

Drones deliver overdose treatment

One innovation that has been trialled in the UK with the aim of reducing drug deaths is the use of drones to deliver naloxone, a life-saving medicine which acts quickly to reverse an overdose of opioid drugs such as heroin.

“If somebody is having an overdose, we need to get it to them within at least seven minutes and quicker if possible,” says Dr Paul Royall, a senior lecturer at Kings College London, whose researchers have teamed up with HeroTech8.

When someone calls 999, the call operator activates an emergency response along with the drone, which is expected to beat the ambulance to the scene, allowing the caller to administer the naloxone nasal spray before paramedics arrive.

“So the idea is this reaches the patient first and gives them a bit of extra time so the ambulance can get there and actually really save them,” says Dr Royall.

The team is currently working with drug users in Gosport, on the south coast of Hampshire, before conducting a real-life trial later this year, with a plan to develop the next phase in areas with the most need in the UK.

It estimates delivery costs would be similar to a small Amazon drone delivery – expected to be between £25 and £75 – but says a large-scale roll-out could further bring prices down.

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A government spokesperson said: “We are determined to provide those caught in the clutches of addiction with the right support to turn their lives around.

“Our 10-year drug strategy, backed by a record £3bn funding, is tackling both supply and demand for illegal drugs by building a world-class treatment system, alongside relentlessly pursuing and dismantling criminal networks.

“We have already increased the number of people in drug and alcohol treatment by over 17,000, recruited 1,255 drug and alcohol workers and are expanding the availability of life-saving naloxone to prevent more tragic deaths.”

UK

Donald Trump confirms he will sue the BBC over Panorama edit – despite broadcaster’s apology

Published

10 hours ago

November 15, 2025

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Donald Trump confirms he will sue the BBC over Panorama edit - despite broadcaster's apology

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.

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.

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.

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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UK

Banksy art theft lands burglar with 13-month prison sentence

Published

13 hours ago

November 14, 2025

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Banksy art theft lands burglar with 13-month prison sentence

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.”

UK

‘Incredibly dangerous’ sex offender Chao Xu jailed – as police say there could be hundreds more victims

Published

13 hours ago

November 14, 2025

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'Incredibly dangerous' sex offender Chao Xu jailed - as police say there could be hundreds more victims

An “incredibly dangerous” sex offender who drugged his victims and installed spy cameras around his home has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years – as police appeal for hundreds more potential victims to come forward.

Warning: This article contains details of sexual offences

Chinese national Chao Xu, 33, has been described by police as “one of the most prolific offenders ever uncovered” by the Metropolitan Police.

Xu, who was a law postgraduate student at the University of Greenwich in London between 2015 and 2016, ran his own recruitment business and targeted victims at networking events at his home.

He invented his “Spring of Life” cocktail, a mix of alcohols and Chinese herbal medicines, to sedate guests, and planted spy cameras in items including air fresheners, sanitary packaging and speakers.

Police found thousands of pictures and videos, with some showing unconscious or incapacitated victims in his flat in Greenwich, south-east London.

Xu, who is from China but is believed to have been living in the UK since 2013, also covertly filmed women on their daily commutes at stations such as London Bridge in so-called upskirting incidents.

He pleaded guilty to 24 sex offences between 2021 and 2025 at Woolwich Crown Court in August relating to six victims, with two charges relating to a seventh woman left to lie on file.

Xu admitted four counts of rape, eight counts of assault by penetration, four counts of sexual assault, four counts of voyeurism, two counts of administering a substance with intent and two counts of operating equipment beneath the clothing of another without consent (commonly known as upskirting).

‘Incredibly dangerous man’

His Honour Judge Christopher Grout described Xu as an “incredibly dangerous man” who “took great enjoyment” from his offending.

“Your behaviour was calculated and planned, evidenced by the covert recording systems you had set up in your flats and the fact you had incapacitated a number of your victims by drugging them.

“You betrayed the trust of a number of women who you befriended in the most appalling ways imaginable,” he added.

Could be hundreds of victims

Another 11 alleged victims have since come forward but the Metropolitan Police believe there are hundreds more in the UK and China, with offences committed in workplaces, public spaces and overseas.

Acting Detective Superintendent Lewis Sanderson described Xu as one of the “most prolific” offenders the force has ever investigated, adding that his “crimes were calculated, sustained, and devastating”.

Speaking outside the court on Friday, he said: “Chao Xu was a prolific and predatory sexual offender who committed some of the most cowardly and abhorrent crimes imaginable. His actions caused deep and lasting harm.”

“The number of victims of sexual assault, voyeurism and upskirting is believed to be in the hundreds. This includes individuals filmed without consent in Xu’s flat at his workplace and in public spaces.

“That is why today I’m making a direct appeal. If you believe you may have been a victim of Chao Xu, or if you have any information that could assist our investigation, please come forward. You will be listened to. You will be believed and you will be supported.”

He said all of the sexual assault victims were Chinese women, aged between 18 and 30, while the voyeurism victims are also young females but of different ethnicities.

He added that there will be women who may not know they are victims of his crimes, as they may have been drugged by Xu.

Detectives were alerted to Xu’s crimes after he held a networking event in Greenwich in June.

When one of the women who attended became unwell, Xu offered to let her stay, before raping her several times, the Metropolitan Police said.

They later found he had drugged her with substances known to cause drowsiness and incapacitation.

The case included six million messages on WeChat, the popular Chinese messaging app, most of them in Mandarin, which all had to be checked with the help of a translator.