Life inside Europe’s drugs death capital: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
It is a freezing morning in east Glasgow and the only thing Chris has on his mind is how quickly he can get his first fix.
He strides down the street brandishing a needle in the air, as cars and vans drive through the housing estate. The syringe is filled with brown liquid.
“20ml of heroin for £10,” he shouts, as he brags it took him less than ten minutes to obtain.
Chris, a 41-year-old former and decorator
A 41-year-old former painter and decorator, Chris recounts how his nearly two decades of crime and drugs started after his mum was murdered in 2007. But it is clear he is distracted – and increasingly desperate. “I just need to get this in me,” he says, holding up the heroin.
He walks to a makeshift drugs den on the corner of a supermarket car park. Buried deep in the bushes, it is strewn with blood-soaked needles and drug paraphernalia – one trip and there would be a serious risk of contracting a dangerous infection.
Chris doesn’t bat an eyelid. He sits on a crushed petrol jerry can covered in dirt and muck, his drug-filled syringe clutched between his teeth as he pulls down his trousers.
The drugs den where Chris injects heroin
“It’s really disgusting, having to do this,” he shouts, a nod to the lack of dignity in this deeply personal moment.
He prods and tugs at the skin on his lower leg and groin, desperate to find an area to inject. Silence falls as the drugs enter his system.
Just a stone’s throw away, a new government facility is about to open, allowing addicts to bring their illegal narcotics and take them under medical supervision, without the fear of arrest by police.
The “safer drug consumption room“, which will be the first of its kind in the UK, is how authorities are trying to tackle drugs deaths and clean up the streets. It is set to open in the coming weeks.
The safer drug consumption room in Glasgow
Scotland has the highest rate of drug deaths in Europe. Last year, 1,172 people died due to drug misuse, according to National Records of Scotland data. That is up 121, or 12%, compared to the previous 12 months.
Opioids – such as heroin – were implicated in 80% of the deaths. And Glasgow is at the centre of the epidemic.
Chris said his mum was murdered in 2007
‘No trust’
Officials believe the project could lure people like Chris off the back alley and in to a sanitised, clinical environment.
Chris speaks eloquently and passionately – and sometimes bluntly – about his life on the streets. Just two days before we meet him for the second time, the tent he lives in was set on fire.
He is no saint – and does not pretend to be. Nicknamed “Macka”, he reveals he funds his £1,000-a-month drug habit by shoplifting from major high-street retailers.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
But he is yet to be convinced by the government’s scheme.
“I think if you’re in that area? Yes,” he says.
“But do actually people think that it’s a trap? I don’t think there’s that level of trust.”
A controversial idea
Since 2016, when the idea of a safer drugs consumption room in Glasgow was first considered, there have been six prime ministers, three first ministers, endless debate and more than 8,000 Scottish drug deaths.
It is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
But the idea is controversial – and not cheap. Up to £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year for pilots in several Scottish cities, depending on the “success” of Glasgow.
This is a political decision and comes amid a backdrop of services being slashed in other areas amid squeezed budgets.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The big test will be whether deaths decrease or not – and how this will operate alongside the work of law enforcement.
Those who oppose the idea fear it could downplay the dangers of drugs, while diverting vital resources away from treatment-based approaches.
The Home Office previously said there was “no safe way to take illegal drugs”.
But in response to concerns that the centre could become a “magnet for crime” with drug dealers looking to take advantage of vulnerable people, NHS officials in Glasgow said: “The international evidence would suggest that’s unlikely to happen if the service is well managed.”
For some people on the streets, it could be too late.
I ask Chris whether he ever considers if that hit could be his last.
He responds: “To be honest mate, that would be a blessing. The way my life is right now, dying? Dying seems like a better life.”
Eight men have been arrested by the Metropolitan Police in two unconnected but “significant” terrorism investigations.
In one operation on Saturday, counter-terror officers arrested five men – four of whom are Iranian nationals – as they swooped in on various locations around the country. All are in police custody.
The Met said the arrests related to a “suspected plot to target a specific premises”.
In an update shortly after midnight, the force said: “Officers have been in contact with the affected site to make them aware and provide relevant advice and support, but for operational reasons, we are not able to provide further information at this time.”
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Counter-terrorism policing, supported by police and colleagues from across the country, have conducted arrests in two really significant operations, both of which have been designed to keep the public safe from threats.
“There are several hundred officers and staff working on this investigation, and we will work very hard to ensure we understand the threats to the wider public.”
He refused to say if the plot was related to Israel, but described it as “certainly significant” and said “it is unusual for us to conduct this scale of activity”.
He also asked the public to “avoid speculation and some of the things that are being posted online”.
MI5 director general Ken McCallum said in October that the intelligence agency had responded to 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots since 2022. He warned of the risk of an “increase or broadening of Iranian state aggression in the UK”.
Read more: Terror arrests came in context of raised warnings about Iran
Children ‘petrified’ by armed police
Rochdale resident Kyle Warren, who witnessed one of the arrests at a neighbouring house, said his children had been playing in the garden when they came running into the house, saying a man in a mask had told them to go inside.
“Obviously, I was a bit worried,” Mr Warren told Sky News’ Lisa Dowd, and so he went into the garden to investigate.
“As we’ve come out, we just heard a massive bang, seen loads of police everywhere with guns, shouting at us to get inside the house.”
Kyle Warren said his children were ‘petrified’
From upstairs in his house, he then heard “loads of shouting in the house” and saw a man being pulled out of the back of the house, “dragged down the side entry and thrown into all the bushes and then handcuffed”.
There were about 20 to 30 officers with guns, he believes.
“It’s just shocking, really. You don’t expect it on your doorstep.”
His daughters were “petrified… I don’t think they’ve ever seen a gun, so to see 20 masked men with guns running round was quite scary for them”.
Mr Warren, who only moved into his house a year ago, said he had “never really seen anyone going in or out” of the house and actually thought it was empty.
One suspect was arrested in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester. Pic: Sarah Cash
One suspect was arrested in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester. Pic: Sarah Cash
Arrests and searches around the country
The Met added officers were carrying out searches at a number of addresses in the Greater Manchester, London and Swindon areas in connection with the investigation.
It said those detained were:
• A 29-year-old man arrested in the Swindon area
• A 46-year-old man arrested in west London
• A 29-year-old man arrested in the Stockport area
• A 40-year-old man arrested in the Rochdale area
• A man whose age was not confirmed arrested in the Manchester area.
A 29-year-old man was arrested in the Stockport area
Terror arrests in separate investigation
Police also arrested three further Iranian nationals in London on Saturday as part of another, unrelated counter-terror investigation.
The suspects were detained under section 27 of the National Security Act 2023, which allows police to arrest those suspected of being “involved in foreign power threat activity”.
Read more from Sky News:
Pictured: Boy killed in fire – 14 children arrested
Lady Gaga puts on biggest-ever show for free
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “These were two major operations that reflect some of the biggest counter state threat and counter terrorism operations that we have seen in recent years.
“This reflects the complexity of the kinds of challenges to our national security that we continue to face.”
Earlier, she thanked police and security services in a statement, and called the incidents “serious events that demonstrate the ongoing requirement to adapt our response to national security threats”.
Last year, the government placed the whole of the Iranian state – including its intelligence services – on the enhanced tier of the new foreign influence registration scheme.
It means anyone asked by Iran to carry out actions for the state must declare it, or face prison time.
UK
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.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
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.
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.”
Read more:
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.
UK
Pictured: Boy killed in Gateshead industrial estate fire – 14 children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter
Tributes have been paid to 14-year-old Layton Carr who died in a fire at an industrial estate.
Eleven boys and three girls, aged between 11 and 14 years, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the incident in Gateshead on Friday. They remain in police custody.
Police were alerted to a fire at Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area
Firefighters raced to Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area shortly after 8pm, putting out the blaze a short time later.
Police then issued an appeal for a missing boy, Layton Carr, who was believed to be in the area at the time.
In a statement, 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”.
Layton’s next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers, police added.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Teenager dies in industrial estate fire
A fundraising page on GoFundMe has been set up to help Layton’s mother pay for funeral costs.
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.”
Another added: “My boy ❤️ my baby cousin, my Layton. Nothing will ever come close to the pain I feel right now. Forever 14. I’ll miss you sausage.”
A third said: “Rest in peace big lad such a beautiful soul taken far to soon my thoughts are with you Gee stay strong girl hear for u always.”
Read more from Sky News:
Eight arrests in connection with two terrorism operations
Compensation scheme scrapped for child sexual abuse victims
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.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway