Mother warns of drinking dangers

Hayley was drinking eight cans and bottle of vodka a day

The mother of a girl who started drinking at the age of 12 and became hooked at 14 is warning young children of the dangers of drinking.

At the height of her addiction Hayley Nash was drinking eight cans of lager and a litre of vodka a day, using money from her paper-round to fund her habit.

Now 16, Hayley, from Bloxwich in the Black Country, drinks five cans a day.

Her mother, Wanda, urged children to avoid drink: "To all youngsters I say just don't drink, just don't do it."

Hayley says she first started drinking a "couple of cans a night a couple of nights a week" but it escalated when her grandmother's health worsened.

"As my nan gradually deteriorated, so did I with my drinking.

It wrecks all the inside of your body, your liver, kidneys, it will even damage your brain and eventually kill you Wanda Nash

"When she passed away from Alzheimer's and cancer, that's when I was drinking about eight cans and a bottle of vodka nearly every day."

The teenager would drink in and around Bloxwich cemetery, where her grandmother was later buried.

She was diagnosed as an alcoholic at the age of 14.

Hayley is now on a home-detox plan and says she wants to beat her addiction.

Alcohol counsellor

"I want to beat it but it's hard, very hard," she says.

Once she does conquer her dependency she says she wants to be a drugs and alcohol counsellor.

But her mother, who is forced to keep any alcohol in their home locked away, wants other young children be aware of the damage alcohol can cause.

"Just keep away from it, avoid it," she warns.

"It wrecks all the inside of your body, your liver, kidneys, it will even damage your brain and eventually kill you."