Girls expelled for 'cocaine use'

Four teenage girls from a school in West Sussex have been expelled over allegations they used cocaine.

One 15-year-old girl at Holy Trinity School in Gossops Green, near Crawley, was given a warning by Sussex Police.

Officers were called to the school on 31 January after reports the Year 10 pupils had been snorting cocaine in toilets before lessons.

The headmaster has assured parents that the school has a zero tolerance to illegal drug use.

In a statement, Peter Wickert said during his five-and-a-half years in charge of the Church of England secondary school there had never been any previous incidents of drugs used on the school premises.

"Any pupil bringing illegal drugs into school, being found to have been using them or supplying them either in or out of school will be permanently excluded immediately - as were the four pupils involved over a month ago.

"Our prompt actions in this case have been highly commended and supported by the police," he said.