Mother, 41, left schoolboys in ‘zombie-like’ state after they took more than 40 pills

A mother left three schoolboys fighting for life in a ‘zombie-like’ state after they swallowed more than 40 tablets from her son’s stash of hallucinatory designer drugs.

Julie Birtwistle, 41, had been asleep in bed when the youngsters aged 14 and 15 who been staying over began taking synthetic Alpha PVP pills from a shoebox they found in her lounge.

When the youngsters suffered a severe reaction to the ecstasy-like pills, a friend tried to call 999 for help but Birtwistle cut off the call then refused the offer of an ambulance telling a operator: ‘We’re okay thank you – sorry about that.’

Paramedics were only summoned to Birtwistle’s house in Bury, Greater Manchester 90 minutes later after the teens complained of seeing ‘spiders’ and talked of people wanting to ‘shoot them.’

The youngsters who had taken 14 tablets each were rushed to hospital where each were placed in an induced coma amid fears they might not survive. 

All made recoveries following treatment despite the adverse reactions lasting at least 20 hours.

Police inquiries discovered the drugs came from a stash of 350 pills left in the shoebox by Birtwistle’s son Craig Williams, 22.

Officers seized Birtwistle’s phone which had been used by a youth to send messages about the drugs saying: ‘I have taken one of these. Get u f..ked m8.’ 

Alpha-PVP, a class B drug also known as ‘Flakka’ can cause racing heart rate, agitation, high blood pressure, hallucination and delirium and can be fatal, especially when combined with other drugs.

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Birtwistle admitted child cruelty but escaped with 16 months suspended for two years after her lawyers said the victims were ‘not toddlers’ but youths being ‘careless’ with drugs.

Bricklayer Williams, of Blackley, Manchester admitted possessing drugs with intent to supply and was jailed for 22 months.

The incident occurred on January 16 last year when the boys were sleeping over at Birtwistle’s home. 

Williams had obtained the pills from a drug dealer associate in Rochdale to ‘store them’ for him but he left the pills under the TV in the lounge to go to a party.

The youngsters who thought the pills were ecstasy started taking the tablets at about 9pm and carried on swallowing half a pill every half an hour up to 4am. 

At 8.30am a friend who was also at the property noticed the boys had begun ‘shaking’ and one went into Birtwistle’s room to raise the alarm.

Geoff Whelan prosecuting said of the boys was a ‘zombie like state’ and added: ‘He was hallucinating and said someone was going to shoot him. 

A second boy went into Julie’s room to get her phone because he wanted to call the ambulance.

‘A call was made and a young male voice was heard saying: ‘His hand has gone like all purple and it’s shaking.’ 

A short time later the line went dead. The call handler then called back and Julie Birtwistle answered She was asked if she needed an ambulance and replied: ‘No, no, we’re okay thank you, sorry about that’ and the call ended.’

Williams arrived back shortly afterwards to find the boys going in and out of his mother’s room and being told to go back to bed. She eventually agreed to call for an ambulance again at 10am after it was noted the lads had heavily dilated eyes.

In her 999 call Birtwistle said: ‘Throughout the night, I’ve noticed the children are not sleeping and I’ve just been keeping an eye on them. They are actually hallucinating, saying that people are coming to get them and saying there’s spiders everywhere and stuff like that.

‘They’ve not seemed to have slept tonight and they’re hallucinating and saying that things are coming for them. I suspect that they’ve taken something.. They’re alright, they’re just hallucinating, talking about spiders and stuff.’

Two of the boys were rushed to the A&E department of North Manchester General Hospital where they barricaded themselves inside a cubicle telling staff there were ‘men outside with guns trying to get in’ and were able to crawl through a 2mm gap under the cubicle door.

The third boy was initially conscious but then developed facial twitching and a red facial rash before becoming very agitated and confused.

Mr Whelan added: ‘The substance had a severe impact and was life threatening. The high from Alpha-PVP can last 3-5 hours but many users report it can be subtle at first and slow to come on and this has caused some to use more than they intended with unpleasant results. Alpha-PVP has been reported to be the cause of death in suicides and overdoses.

‘The conditions of the three boys were judged so serious they had to be put into induced comas and it was uncertain they would survive.’

Police recovered a total of 485 tablets from the house which would have been sold on the street for £10 a pill. Birtwistle initially told police she was unaware as to what substance the boys had taken but admitted smoking cannabis herself at home.

She later admitted the pills belonged to Williams and told how she had seen the boys ‘ acting strangely’ saying one of them was looking out of the window and saying ‘people were outside waiting to kill them.’

She said a friend of the boys rang for an ambulance but one said he didn’t need an ambulance ‘so they cancelled it and hung up.’ She said a short time later one of the boy started getting ‘more delusional’ and was talking about there being ‘spiders everywhere’ and she called for help. She denied being under the influence of any drink or drugs herself.

Williams who was arrested later at a service station said: ‘The drugs were dropped off at my flat two days ago by a guy who lives in Rochdale.I owed him £40 and he said it had gone up to £3,000. I have a bad sniff habit and he said I had to hold the tablets to pay off the debt, I’m not a drug dealer.’

He added: ‘I only held the drugs under duress, if I did not, then my life was at serious risk and my family’s, the guy is a nasty piece of work. I did not supply drug. I just kept them hidden in a shoebox, I thought no one in the house would find them. It is very unfortunate this has happened.’

In mitigation defence lawyer Michael Lee said: ‘Clearly this is a distressing case where a mother and son appear in the dock together and three children were left suffering very serious life-threatening issues as a result of their behaviour. But the children were not toddlers – they carelessly took what they knew to be drugs.’

But sentencing Judge John Potter told Williams: ‘Very stupidly you stored these drugs in a location which was easily accessible to others then went out to a party leaving the stash of drugs in the shoebox under the TV in the living room.

‘During that evening it seems that the three boys discovered where the stash of pills was hidden and at 9pm decided to take some of them by swallowing them.

‘Over the next seven hours, each boy takes up to 14 tablets each which had a catastrophic effect upon the health of each of them.

They were shaking and hallucinating and it appears that a call was made possible by one of the boys for an ambulance.’

The judge told Birtwistle: ‘During the course of that phone call, it was quite obvious that a least one of the boys was seriously ill but despite this you declined the services of the ambulance even after the services had called you back following the termination seeking confirmation as to whether assistance was required.

‘You even thanked them and said sorry at having bothered them even though it must have been quite apparent to you at the time that the boys will have been well in need of urgent medical attention on an immediate basis. You were prioritising the needs of yourself and others above those of the children.

‘You were seeking to avoid the consequence of the events that had unfolded and also maybe out of misguided signs of loyalty towards your son who as I am sure you knew had brought these drugs into the house. 

‘These were selfish acts on your behalf and placed these children in very great peril indeed. The delay of a further call for an ambulance caused them unnecessary suffering.’