Leah's Law: MP to introduce bill to Parliament

A bid to change the law on selling drugs to under 16s will be debated in Parliament later.

Kerry Roberts' daughter Leah Heyes, 15, died in 2019 after she took a Class A drug with a group of friends in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

She wants a new law which would make selling drugs to under-16s a different offence, carrying a longer jail term.

Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and Malton, will introduce it as a Ten Minute Rule bill in the Commons.

The ten minute rule allows a backbench MP to make his or her case for a new bill, members then decide if a bill should be introduced.

Ms Roberts said she was "so grateful" the bill is being heard in Parliament.

Leah collapsed in the Applegarth car park, Northallerton, after taking two tablets of MDMA, the chemical name for ecstasy, in May 2019.

The drugs were supplied by Connor Kirkwood, then 17, from Dishforth, and handed to her by another boy, Mitchell Southern, who were later jailed.

Ms Roberts previously started a petition calling for a change in the law.

However, the Home Office said "as existing offences already apply for drug supply, we have no plans to make it a specific offence to supply a child with drugs".

Ms Roberts said: "People were disappointed when we only hit 10,000 on the petition, but I said then and I'll say it again, it's not over."

She said the bill was a "massive step forward" and "the start of a big thing".

Ms Roberts said after her daughter's death she initially felt "a lot of hatred," but later befriended Connor Kirkwood's mother Tammy, who has joined her in campaigning to improve awareness of drugs in North Yorkshire schools.

"[Schoolchildren] see me and realise it is real and it happens to normal people.

"Knowing I could be helping another family, stopping at least one child, spurs me on.

"I relive Leah's story every time. It's not easy but it has to be done."

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or send video here.