RACHEL Whitear was a beautiful and brilliant young woman with a promising academic career, but when police discovered her three-day-old corpse, it was clear she had been a drug addict too.

County schoolchildren are about to meet the 21-year-old from Withington. She is featured in a pioneering educational video as a happy girl who was the apple of her family's eye, but whose young life ended in scenes that will distress viewers, some of which are reproduced on Page 6.

Two years of drug abuse finally took its toll on the Bath University dropout, the baby of a family of four children, when she took her last fix of heroin on her dad's birthday, Wednesday, May 10, 2000. Mick Holcroft's darling daughter lay dead and undetected in a rented room in Exmouth.

Harrowing

Devon and Cornwall Constabulary officers found her body three days later. Photographs of Rachel, found slumped in a kneeling position with her lovely face next to a syringe, have been harrowing for her mum and dad.

Courageously the family, who now live in Ledbury, allowed them to be used in the hard-hitting video called 'Rachel's Story', a poignant 22-minute film to teach all secondary school pupils in Herefordshire the realities of drug abuse, which has left teachers, children and even policemen in tears.

A copy has also been sent to the Drug Education Forum in London by Herefordshire LEA with the hope that it becomes a national educational resource.

Funded by the Department of Health, the video is a Herefordshire Healthy Schools Project and has been produced and directed by Chris Smart of Hereford's Silva Productions.

"The reason we think the video is so useful is because it challenges the stereo typical image of a drug user," said Mike Denton of Herefordshire LEA.

The story of Rachel's life is told by her mother, Pauline, her sister, Sarah, her dad and her best friend, Polly North, whom she met at Aylestone High School.

Excelled

On the video they lovingly describe Rachel as someone who challenged the stereotypes of a typical addict. She had been a bright girl who had excelled as a pianist and left school with 10 GCSEs.

She gave her time generously to her many friends and to those less fortunate than herself by taking part in sponsored walks and swims. On one occasion she even forced her mum to buy a copy of the Big Issue to help the homeless. She was the last person anyone thought would become a drug addict.

Mick recalls the family's trauma as being like 'walking down a tunnel with the lights going out'. "She had been in great physical pain. Her muscles hurt and her skin would itch."

He added: "The video is to make people think. There will be a point when someone says try that. They will be put into a circle where they try other things."

Pauline said her daughter had been determined to go to university. It was after they had been to look at some of the colleges that Rachel received a phone call from a boy asking her out. The events that followed were to plunge the Holcroft family into a downwards spiral of grief.

The boyfriend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had already been a heroin addict for two or three years.

Sparkle

"There always was a sparkle in Rachel's eyes, a certain devilment. We slowly started to see this wasn't always evident," said Pauline.

Life, as she had planned it, suddenly stopped for Rachel at the age of 19 when she tried her first fix. Polly believed she had become 'normalised' to the drug after seeing her boyfriend use it. After trying it just the once, she couldn't stop.

She decided not to go to university and her family watched as she changed from being a smiling girl, who had enjoyed playing football with her two brothers, Ryan and Ian and her sister, into a less motivated, unhappy and disturbed person.

She lost her ability to play the piano and would sell anything to raise money for a fix, but unlike many heroin users, never stole. She even handed back a family heirloom to her mother, a red gold watch that she had been given on her 18th birthday, in case she was tempted to cash it in.

Kicked habit

With help from drugs counsellors Rachel managed to kick the habit for weeks at a time and at one point got her life back together enough to apply for a place at college.

She was accepted by six universities and decided to read psychology and sociology at Bath University.

But Rachel's boyfriend moved with her to Bath and she dropped out after an awful Christmas, spent with him there, because he had nowhere else to go.

Rachel and her boyfriend, who was several years older, then moved to Exmouth. The week before she died she phoned her mum to say she was leaving her boyfriend. She moved to new lodgings and was to meet her parents the following weekend.

Rachel never turned up. While her parents waited trying not to think the worst, police officers were investigating the death of a young woman found in the town the previous evening.

Rachel's grandmother saw the newsflash on TV and phoned Mick and Pauline on their mobile. "I knew at that point, I just knew that it was Rachel," said Pauline. As they walked back to the car the call came from the police.

After interviews with the police, numb with shock, they had sat for what seemed like hours on a park bench. "I really don't think for some time it sank in. Our lives will never be the same. There is always a gap," said Pauline.

For Sarah, memories of the sister who never made it to her wedding, are varied. "They go from the very start of her life to throwing roses on her coffin."

The message from the family to youngsters all over the country is never to try heroin because it's impossible to get it out of your life.

Deterrent

The video also honours one of Rachel's wishes. She had wanted her organs donated if anything happened to her. Because of post mortem changes they couldn't be used but her story will have a huge impact on would-be addicts.

Months after her daughter's death Pauline bravely spoke to children at Kingstone High School, encouraged by community police officer Les Wilkinson. Rachel's Story has also been shown to children in trials at Lady Hawkins, Kington, teachers at Aylestone High School and police officers.

Feedback

Feedback has been extraordinary. One county pupil said: "The impact was extensive. As the video progressed I began to know Rachel and her family and began to understand how much the family loved her and how much they miss her. The emotion of the video shows how drug abuse can ruin an entire family's life."

When it is released to secondary schools this year, the shocking footage will prove to be one of the biggest deterrents to drug abuse the county has ever seen.

l Pauline and Mick Holcroft would like to thank Chris Smart and PC Les Wilkinson for all their professional support.

Herefordshire LEA also extends a big thank you to the Holcroft family for sharing their story.