Binge drink killed my boy
Oct 6 2007 by Dan Warburton, The Journal
THE mother of a popular schoolboy who drowned in a flooded quarry after a night drinking has sent a stark warning to other parents after blaming the teenage booze culture for his death.
Speaking for the first time since the tragedy, Marie Cardwell implored other parents to be vigilant and called for a clampdown on irresponsible shopkeepers who sell alcohol to children.
In a moving interview, she also told of how of the heartbreaking moment she discovered her 15-year-old son Daniel was dead and how his little niece blew a heartbreaking kiss towards his grave on her first visit last week.
Ms Cardwell, 41, of Cotswold Drive, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, said: “I hope this is a warning to other kids. I never want this to happen to anyone else’s children.
“I know Dan was drinking when he died, that’s no secret. This would not have happened if he was not drunk.
“Kids drinking is a massive problem. They have nothing else to do, they just sit around and waste time getting drunk.”
Daniel was missing for two days before his family was informed he was dead.
Ms Cardwell vividly recalled the devastating moment she heard the news her son had drowned at Marden Quarry, Whitley Bay.
She said: “I was with the liaison officer when I found out.
“He had been missing for a couple of days and then they found a body and said the description was similar to Daniel’s.
“I just went numb. I punched the fridge and my legs went from beneath me. I can remember kicking the wall. Then I had to go identify his body and I just felt sick.”
She now believes that shopkeepers should shoulder the blame for tragedies resulting from teenage binge-drinking and is urging people to prevent tragic deaths like that of her son happening again.
“People need to start reporting shops that are selling alcohol to under-age kids,” she said. “Also, the quarry should be locked at night. It was pitch black when Daniel died, and it’s dangerous. There’s a lot of kids who will still go down there but hopefully what happened to Dan won’t happen again. I don’t want this to happen to any other kid.”
Daniel, who was a doting uncle to 18-month-old Lucy, as well as a loving brother to Sophie, 18, Bethany, 15, and Robbie, eight, died on March 11 earlier this year.
With the inquest into Daniel’s death approaching, his mother paid a moving tribute to her son. Ms Cardwell said: “He was funny, clever, kind and annoying. He was the best son and I was so proud of him. He was beautiful, he was handsome and he was vain – he could have been a male model and I’m not just saying that because I’m his mother. His sisters never like to go to his grave but now they’ve started to go down. I don’t want them to forget him.
“I took his 18-month-old niece Lucy down last week, and she blew him a kiss but it was only to his headstone. I miss him so much. I think about him every day.”
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'Boy Wonder' deprived of bright future in work
Daniel, affectionately named Boy Wonder by those close to him, was nearing the end of a plumbing apprenticeship when he drowned in Marden Quarry.
Ms Cardwell said: “We received his apprenticeship certificate through the post about two or three months after he died.
“If he was here now, he would have been working. All he every wanted to do was buy us presents.
“I don’t think I will ever get over him. He’s in my head all the time.
“But I have to move on because I have three other children that I have to look after – but I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”
The inquest into Daniel’s death is expected to be held soon. Ms Cardwell said: “He was no angel, but he was not a bad person. It makes me very angry when people say he was out of control. It’s like I let him do what he wanted to do.
“He was 15. Kids that age don’t hang around in the back garden, even though I wish they would. He was older than his years. Kids that age aren’t perfect.
“Last week his sister Sophie was looking down the back of the sofa and she found a bracelet that Daniel had lost just before he died. I thought it was Dan’s way of giving Sophie one last gift.”
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Rising toll of children admitted to hospital
Figures show the number of children admitted to hospital because of alcohol abuse has risen more than a third in the last decade.
The statistics released in June show there were 5,280 hospital admissions among under-16s in 2005/06 related to alcohol, in comparison to 3,870 for 1995/96.
The official figures for England were released in the wake of a survey of 12,000 teenage pupils aged 14 to 17 which revealed more than half of those who “binge drink” have been violent while drunk.
And it is young people who are more likely to binge drink than any other age range – with 42% of men and 36% of women aged 16 to 24 drinking above the daily recommendation.
Studies have already proved how dangerous excessive drinking in those teenage years can be. Those who drink as a child are much more likely to use drugs as an adult, become alcoholics and get in trouble with the law.
A long-term study involving more than 11,000 Britons discovered teenagers who drank heavily suffered a host of problems by the time they were 30.
