Charity demands end to cheap drink
A health charity has demanded an end to supermarkets selling drink at "pocket-money prices" after a girl of 14 become one of Britain's youngest casualties of alcoholic liver failure.
Natasha Farnham, now 18, from Bath, is in rehab after doctors told her she risks death if she drinks beer or spirits again.
After experimenting with alcohol aged 12, Ms Farnham needed hospital treatment two years later after a three-day binge, and last week admitted burglary at Bristol Crown Court.
The British Liver Trust said the "ridiculously cheap" price of beer and wine is to blame for the addiction which brought Ms Farnham to the dock.
Trust spokeswoman Sarah Matthews said: "This is a tragedy and she is very lucky to be alive. I am pretty certain she is the youngest person in the UK to suffer from liver failure as a result of drinking. Certainly, I've never heard of anyone younger.
"This case raises a lot of issues. The main thing that needs to be done is for supermarkets to stop offering alcohol at pocket-money prices. It is so cheap at the moment it is ridiculous.
"We'd also like to see an end to the media glamorising celebrities who abuse alcohol and printing so many pictures of them in states of intoxication.
"There also needs to be more education in schools - a lot of people don't even know where their liver is, let alone what it does."
Judge Julian Lambert gave Ms Farnham, of Twerton, Bath, a two-year community order.
After the case, Ms Farnham said she wants to warn other teenagers not to repeat the spiral of abuse which culminated on New Year's Eve 2004 when her liver failed, adding: "I would just tell kids - don't end up like me. I have been a binge drinker, had liver failure and been in rehab and I'm still a teenager."
Press Association
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