Mother’s disgust at needle on Sidmouth beach

A mum-of-four was ‘disgusted’ to find a hypodermic needle and syringe containing drugs as she took her children to Sidmouth beach.

Kirby Whittock said whether the drug it contained was illegal or not was irrelevant, as it was still dangerous rubbish.

She removed it herself then shared the photo on Facebook to raise awareness - but police have sought to reassure residents.

“It doesn’t matter how it got there,” wrote Miss Whittock, who found the needle last Thursday morning. “The bottom line is that it looks as though – for whatever reason – someone has used this needle on the beach recently and not disposed of it properly. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in this instance, but they easily could have been.”

East Devon District Council has confirmed that another needle was found in a jar in Sidmouth Cemetery last Friday. There was a spoon nearby, but there were no visible signs of it being heated for drug use.

Marc Kilsbie found a hypodermic needle outside his Fore Street shop, Flo and Us, in April.

“My first thought was, oh no, not that,” said the father-of-one. “If it wasn’t being used for unscrupulous reasons, why was it in my porch? It looked to me like someone had been using my doorway to take drugs.”

But PC Steve Lee says he has seen little drug use in Sidmouth.

“Most drug misuse takes place within the privacy of the home of the user and is very difficult to quantify,” he said. “Certainly the indicators of a drug problem - large-scale petty theft, drug gang street violence and open drug dealing - do not exist here.

“The Sidmouth neighbourhood team, together with our East Devon colleagues, continue to work with our partner agencies to educate the public about the dangers of drug misuse, to identify and prosecute offenders and keep the public safe.”

Sergeant Andy Squires added that the needles were likely from the same user varying his location - and the police had someone in mind.