'My daughter, 16, was killed by cheap cider as strong as 22 shots of vodka'

22 February 2024 , 09:57

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Joanne Good holding a photograph of her daughter, Megan Craig-Wilkinson (Image: MDM)

A bereaved mum is calling on the Government to increase the price of cheap booze 10 years after it claimed the life of her teenage daughter.

Joanne Good told how Megan Craig-Wilkinson, 16, tried 7.5 per alcohol ‘Frosty Jack’s’ cider - the 3 litre bottle containing the equivalent of 22 shots of vodka - and died within hours. Megan was found the next morning by her then six-year-old sister Amelia who did not realise she had died. After asking MPs to increase the price of cheap ‘pocket money’ drinks like Frosty Jack’s, Joanne has been ‘let down’ over 10 years of Tory Government.

“North Tyneside Labour MP Mary Glindon was really good, and spoke about it in Parliament,” said Joanne. “There have been so many Prime Ministers, I cannot remember which Tory was in when that speech was made. But Mary was the only one to listen to me. I told MPs about Megan’s death, the impact on us, her friends and the community. They listen, then neglect to take action, they forget. For us, that is never going to happen.”

The last national strategy to tackle alcohol harm was published in 2012 by the Coalition Government setting out 30 commitments and actions to reduce alcohol harm including reducing the availability of cheap alcohol through duty rises and minimum unit pricing.

Megan's mother says her daughter has been "let down" since her death (MDM)

Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Balance, the North East alcohol prevention programme, said: “At a time when alcohol deaths in England are at an all-time high and with 1m hospital admissions a year in England, we urgently need action to reduce alcohol harm and protect the most vulnerable in our communities.”

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Frosty Jack’s maker, Aston Manor, claimed any form of alcohol was ‘capable of being misused’. But Joanne said: “When you tell people there are 22 shots of vodka in a bottle of cheap white cider, people are still shocked by that. It costs as little as £4 or £5 to buy. Most of them look like pop bottles to appeal to young people. What more needs to happen for something to change? Scotland has put up prices and it has had an impact. For some reason, we will not do it in England. What happened to Megan was extreme, but we have all these young people drinking it and Megan lost her life because of it, it can happen and that is what I say to all these young people on a daily basis.

Megan had tried a three litre bottle of the alcohol

“Think of what you are drinking, make sure you are in a safe place and with people you trust. I would love, love, love to see an increase in the costs, but we also need education.” Megan had drunk around a litre and a half of cider in the hours before she died. Her mum wants a minimum price per unit of alcohol to be introduced. Joanne, 45, an early help drug and alcohol support worker, said Megan’s death has had a devastating impact on the lives of her stepdad Michael, 38, and siblings Aidan, 23, Amelia, now 17, and Hannah, 15.

“Amelia found her first, gave her a cuddle and did not know she had passed,” she added. “She was so young, she struggled that she did not realise. It is horrific; she was singing Happy Birthday because it was Amelia’s birthday the next day. There is an underlying deep sadness when something good happens because Megan is not there to see it.”

Mum Joanne wants a minimum price per unit of alcohol to be introduced (MDM)

Joanne’s granddaughter was named Hope Megan. She says it will become a family tradition, so that Megan is ‘never forgotten’. Between 2012 and 2019 the rate of alcohol-specific death in the UK remained stable. Then it jumped by 27.4% from 2019 to 2021, to leave it at the highest level since records began in 2001.

The Home Office said: “We maintain an interest in the implementation of minimum unit pricing and its impact on alcohol-related harms and are monitoring emerging evidence with interest.” Their spokesperson added: “The government has taken measures to tackle alcohol consumption through banning sales of alcohol below the level of duty plus VAT, and by introducing a comprehensive set of reforms to alcohol duty which taxes products in proportion to their alcohol content.”

Jeremy Armstrong