21 Facts About Rachel Whitear

Rachel Jayne Whitear was a young woman from Withington, Herefordshire, who died of a heroin overdose in Exmouth, Devon, in May 2000 at the age of 21.

Rachel Whitear had been a frequent user of the narcotic for two years, having been introduced to heroin usage by her partner, Luke Fitzgerald, in 1998.

The nationwide anti-drug campaign following Rachel Whitear's death has been compared to the anti-ecstasy campaigns undertaken after the 1995 deaths of English teenager Leah Betts and Australian schoolgirl Anna Wood.

Rachel Jayne Whitear was born in Weymouth, Dorset, on 6 February 1979, the younger of two children born into a middle-class household.

Rachel Whitear was raised in Withington, Herefordshire, where her family relocated in 1980.

Rachel Whitear is known to have encouraged her parents to purchase The Big Issue to donate to the homeless.

Scholastically, Rachel Whitear was an excellent student; obtaining 10 GCSE passes in 1995.

Rachel Whitear was an accomplished pianist and an avid football fan.

Rachel Whitear began using cannabis and ecstasy at the age of 14.

In November 1997, as Rachel Whitear contemplated which university to attend, she became acquainted with 24-year-old Luke Fitzgerald, who had been a heroin addict for three years.

Shortly after their acquaintance, Fitzgerald phoned Rachel Whitear, asking her to date him.

Rachel Whitear accepted, although shortly thereafter, Fitzgerald began actively encouraging Rachel Whitear to use the drug: initially smoking; later via injecting.

Rachel Whitear was confronted about her heroin usage, but insisted she only used the drug from "time to time" in episodes she termed "slipping up".

Nonetheless, her mother would later insist that, although Rachel Whitear would "sell anything" to fund her habit as her addiction increased, unlike many addicts, her daughter never stole to fund her habit.

Shortly thereafter, in late 1999, Rachel Whitear informed her parents she and Fitzgerald were moving from Withington to Exmouth, where they had secured a rented flat in Lyndhurst Road.

Rachel Whitear's parents agreed, and Whitear briefly returned to their home.

Shortly thereafter, her parents returned home one evening to discover Rachel Whitear lying unresponsive on her bed; briefly unconscious from an injection of heroin.

Rachel Whitear is believed to have died on Wednesday 10 May 2000.

Rachel Whitear's body was discovered by her landlord in her bedsit two days later.

Rachel Whitear is believed to have died while in the company of Fitzgerald, who would confess years later to having given Whitear the fatal dosage of heroin, and to have attempted to "clean up the scene" after she had overdosed on the drug.

Fingerprints were not taken from the bedsit where Rachel Whitear had died until two weeks after police were first called to the scene and officers from the Devon and Cornwall Police force originally investigated her death without conducting a post-mortem examination upon her body.