THE father of a 25-year-old girl who died of an overdose has made an impassioned plea to young people to think twice before experimenting with drugs, reports Beth Broomby.

Andrew Prill, of Hawes Hill, Carnforth, described his daughter Sarah Jane Prill as a bright, popular girl who worked hard and was close to her family.

"She was just a young girl who set off for a good night out and its all gone sadly wrong for her.

There must be a lot of young people out there that are just starting on drugs, if they only knew what we have had to suffer," he told the Gazette.

Miss Prill died of heroin and alcohol poisoning afer visiting the flat of a Morecambe drug addict in the early hours of Saturday, December 23, last year.

Mr Prill's comments come in the week that a nationwide survey of 60,000 teenagers revealed that in the UK more 15 to 16 year olds have experimented with drugs than in any of the other 30 countries surveyed.

An inquest at Lancaster heard how Miss Prill had had drug and alcohol related problems in the past but at the time of her death her family believed that she was not a regular drug user.

Miss Prill's older brother, Marc Christopher Prill, told the inquest: "As far as I was concerned, she was off drugs...I saw her most days and she seemed very happy."

Miss Prill, who was born in Lancaster, had recently returned to the Morecambe area and was expected to move in with her brother Marc on the day that she died.

Marc Prill said: "I had hoped I would have had an 'older brother' influence on her."

Self-confessed heroin addict Edward Burns, of Morecambe, told the inquest how he had met Miss Prill for the first time on Friday, December 22, in a bar and the pair had returned to his Marlborough Road flat where he took amphetamines and, later, heroin.

He admitted providing Miss Prill with what he described as small quantities of each drug after she had "badgered" him for them.

"She told me she had been an addict and had kicked it, but dabbled," he said.

Mr Burns described how the pair had continued "chatting and drinking" for a number of hours before Miss Prill had fallen to sleep on his sofa.

He said it was not until the following morning that he realised something was wrong and he could not wake her.

With the help of his brother Robert Burns, who lived in the flat above, they tried to resuscitate the girl and called for an ambulance.

But shortly after it arived they learned Miss Prill was dead.

Coroner for North Lancashire George Howson recorded a verdict of misadventure on the grounds that Miss Prill had injected the heroin herself and there was no evidence to suggest that she had intended to take her own life.

"She certainly had some support from her brother who clearly did his best to wean her of drugs but it is clear he was not successful," said Mr Howson.