Police ‘did not want to know when children found needles’

Thursday 3rd September 2009, 11:30AM BST.

Amanda Wilkins with the two hypodermic syringes found under a hedge by her daughter, Elicia, right, and friend Krystal Kendall. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0833591)

Amanda Wilkins with the two hypodermic syringes found under a hedge by her daughter, Elicia, right, and friend Krystal Kendall. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0833591)

TWO girls were shocked to find used hypodermic syringes on a housing estate pavement

One girl’s mother called the police but claims the officers seemed uninterested and gave her bad advice.

Krystal Kendall, 12, and Elicia Lauren Shakespeare Wilkins, 8, were walking at Rue des Landes next to the Mont Marche estate when they discovered two needles on the pavement under a hedge.

‘I thought they were drugs, so I didn’t touch them and just looked,’ said Elicia. Her friend Krystal said they decided to tell Elicia’s mother who was in a house nearby.

Amanda Wilkins said she called the police immediately.

‘They weren’t interested, they just said to get rid of it.’ She was told to wrap the needles in cardboard and bin them.

A police spokesman said they had no record of the calls.

He said the advice Ms Wilkins said she had received about wrapping them in cardboard and binning them was ‘demonstrably wrong’.


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  1. 1
    Vee

    What can you expect from our amazing police force! course their not interested. I tried to call the police the other morning and got an answer machine, just as well it wasnt an emergency!

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  2. 2
    heggarty

    Answer machine…you fool, that was a policeman.

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  3. 3
    Paul

    When is more going to be done to lock these junky scumbags up. Its high time all these free needles and drugs were properly regulated as well the users too.

    More could and should be happening because the problem is not going to sort itself out. Year on year the number of junkies are increasing but strangely detection rates are few and far between.

    Known users should have special arrangements in place whereby it is mandatory for them to be stopped leaving and entering back into the Island because heroin addicts rarely go to London or elsewhere to take in art galleries.

    It should now be illegal to test positive for banned substances so that the cycle can be broken once and for all. It would be expensive initially but the benefits will far out weigh the costs in the long term.

    Its high time the authorities voted in the cold turkey for the junkies Christmas. I genuinely believe 100% would be grateful after they broke free from their abusive cycles.

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  4. 4
    NATHAN

    I found £20 on the pavement yesterday…I !didnt call the police!…lol

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  5. 5
    Sandy

    Presumably you would have dialled 999 if it had been an emergency.

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  6. 6
    Sanguine

    “It should now be illegal to test positive for banned substances so that the cycle can be broken once and for all. It would be expensive initially but the benefits will far out weigh the costs in the long term.”

    So if I went to Holland and came back, I could be arrested if I went to a coffeeshop?

    How ridiculous. Ever been to Asia or Middle East? If you have you will know half of the drugs we use on a daily basis here, like Solpadine (spelling?) contains substance considered illegal. How would you like to arrive from a flight there and be arrested for doing something totally legal in your contry?

    Im sure treating junkies as “scumbags” will solve the problem. So removing their right to travel is the answer, are you a member of the Guernsey branch of the BNP?

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  7. 7
    Vee

    Sandy Seriously, do you not think its bad that they had an answer machine on? and of course i would have called 999, are you a policewoman!?

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  8. 8
    Dean

    “It should now be illegal to test positive for banned substances so that the cycle can be broken once and for all.”

    I hate to tell you this Paul, but making possession and supply illegal doesn’t deter people, why should this? On what grounds are the authorities allowed to test people?

    Your ideas on how the “cycle can be broken once and for all” are very naive.

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  9. 9
    Neil

    Sanguine… sounds like you would be happy to have the Island flooded with drugs ! …and what party do you vote for then ? and how do you link the BNP to people who just dont wont drugs on the island.Paranoia is one of the side effects to these substances you seem to support. Keep off them man!

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  10. 10
    sarnia expat

    Why did they not think to contact the Community Nursing service or the Bin Men? Why is is assumed that these syringes were illegally used? Is there someone in the immediate vicinity who perhaps has diabetes controlled by insulin and whose “sharps” bucket was overflowing….. and the community nurses had dropped a couple whilst out…. just a few thoughts.

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  11. 11
    Vee

    @sarnia expat – I understand your point, but i dont think the bin men would take it. but i do think that the police should have accepted responsability on this one just in case they had been used for drugs?! like you say maybe the fell out of a nurses bag or whatever. its just a shame that two young children found them and no one wants to take blame. either way its upto us as residents of Guernsey to keep our streets clear of this and in future if anything like needles or worse drugs lying around, make sure as a Community you deal with the situation, wheather that includes the police, local nurse, hospital, Gsy Press whomever.

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  12. 12
    Sanguine

    Neil, please re read, seriously you cant see the connection that is fine, but if you think I support drugs then you are an idiot.

    I link the BNP with people who don’t have tolerance, ie, if someone is a junkie they need help, not our contempt!

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  13. 13
    Neil

    Im sorry Sanguine but I dont agree that junkies should have any special help we live in the year 2009 and for many years the perils of heroin have been broadcast to all,these junkies have choosen not to heed the warnings and dont deserve the help you would like them to have. So I have no sypathy for these people ….does that indicate I have a tendency to vote or support the BNP ? because if you do you should be very worried come the next election as very few people are interested or care about what happens to the druggies who blight our society.

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  14. 14
    GG

    @Sanguine, the BNP have strict views on immigration, they’re not well known to kick out junkies. I agree with Neil, why should our taxes pay for these fools?

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  15. 15
    Arnald

    BNP raise a lot of funds through drugs, at least the old NF did. Since the hierarchy in some of the districts are the same, it stands to reason they still do.
    Looks like the tide is turningfor the ‘drugs’ debate anyway. The sooner we get sensible debate the sooner lives will be saved.
    I wonder if the ‘experts’ can tell me if we have any drug money hidden in Guernsey?
    We’ll never know now because they’ve been advised to keep schtum. Parasites.

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  16. 16
    Sanguine

    Ok, lock them up and watch the re offend, think you can stop the drug trade by punishing the users and not the suppliers, be my guest!

    I don’t have a problem paying for methadone, everyone makes a bad decision, but you only need to make the heroin decision once in your life, and you’re stuck with it. Correct support and counsel is needed, not prison terms for the drug use, prison term if there is a crime connected to it.

    Why should our taxes pay for those who can’t be bothered to work? I’m not defending drug use, but why support someone who is lazy over someone who made a bad decision?

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  17. 17
    Neil

    Sanguine I agree with you that the suppliers should be dealt a fitting punishment,and my thinking is that a rope should be placed around their necks,these people are some of the lowest forms of life who care for nothing apart from their own greed. On the mainland it has been tried for many years to help the users but to no avail and the use of this terriblbe drug is still on the increase. We can blame the suppliers for making it available ,but without demand the peddlers of this filth would have to move on. I admire your caring attitude it has been tried but it has been a complete failure.I just hope that one day we can win the battle but after seeing a few mates die after years of abuse and as many years of help from good people like yourself,I dont hold out much hope.

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  18. 18
    Rachel

    The police are there when you dont need them but when you do need them, they become invisible, its like insurance companies phoning you while your eating your tea but when you want to make a claime, they dont exist anymore

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