I spend my benefits on booze

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'I spend my benefits on booze'

Tuesday 18 January 2011

As a primary school pupil, Jamie-Lee Day dreamed of becoming a high-flying barrister. But when she started drinking cider, aged just 12, she quickly lost interest in studying.

Now, at the age of 17, Jamie-Lee is a full-blown alcoholic, knocking back up to a litre of vodka and eight cans of beer every day.

Shockingly, the teenager doesn’t seem to care about the health risks posed by drinking. She has no job and spends most of her £47-a-week benefit on alcohol.

“I do feel guilty about blowing my benefits on booze,” says Jamie-Lee naively. “But I need it to get through life and would rather buy vodka than food.

“My mum worries, so she helps with food shopping and bills, leaving me cash for drink.”

Jamie-Lee, who grew up in South Wales, first tasted alcohol at 12.

“Mum had always forbidden me from drinking, but one evening, me and a friend stole a bottle of rum from her parents and drank it in the park – we wanted to see what it was like to be drunk,” she admits.

“I was so wasted, I had to crawl home. When I arrived, I threw up – Mum was so worried. I felt terrible the next day.”

Her mum, Meryl, 35, then a single parent and teetotal, made her daughter promise not to drink again.

Meryl says: “I was so shocked. Jamie-Lee was well-behaved and was forever talking about becoming a lawyer. This was the last thing I expected. I assumed it was a one-off.”

For a while, Jamie-Lee kept her promise. But when Meryl found love with chef Les Cox in 2004 and they moved five miles away, Jamie-Lee began to secretly drink.

“I liked Les, but was jealous of the attention Mum gave him,” says Jamie-Lee. “Even though I was only 13, one of my friends’ mums would buy us a bottle of cider each, saying she’d rather we drank at home than on the street.

“I found getting drunk hysterically funny and it made me feel confident. Plus, by the time I got home the next day, I’d be sober.”

Inevitably, Jamie-Lee’s drinking affected her behaviour – she became aggressive, her grades slipped and she started skipping lessons. But Meryl only found out about her daughter’s drinking when Jamie-Lee was spotted drunk in town by a family friend.

“I’d try to talk to her about it, but she’d attack me,” Meryl tearfully admits. “When she was drunk, she was very strong and would pin me against the wall. I had scratch marks on my arms and bruises where she had punched me in the face.”

Fearful for her other children – Jack, now nine, and Emily, now three – in 2006, Meryl begged Jamie-Lee’s strict grandparents to take her in. But things only got worse.

“Nan was ill and didn’t know how to control me,” admits Jamie-Lee. “So I did what I liked. I didn’t go to school. I’d sleep in till 2pm and then meet my mates in town to start drinking.

“I’d give my bus and dinner money to older friends to buy me a few litres of the cheapest, strongest cider available. When I ran out of money, I’d tell Nan I needed cash for a mate’s birthday present.”

By the age of 15, Jamie-Lee was drinking bottles of vodka and whisky.

“I moved on to spirits because it gets you drunk quicker,” she says. But Jamie-Lee’s boozing landed her in trouble with the police.

“People would pick on me because I was drunk and I’d end up in a fight. It wasn’t always my fault,” she insists.
“One night in February, I woke up in hospital, with blood all over me. I had no idea how I got there,” admits Jamie-Lee.

“Mum was next to me, crying. Someone had thrown a bottle and I had fallen and hit my head. My friends were so worried, they rushed me to hospital. It was scary and I told myself: ‘Never again.’ But as soon as I was discharged, I got drunk on vodka.”

Eventually, when Jamie-Lee turned 16, Meryl persuaded her to get counselling. “I’d been trying to get her to stop drinking for ages – I hoped professionals would be able to persuade her,” says Meryl.

Determined to quit, Jamie-Lee began sessions with a substance misuse adviser. “They got me to talk about why I drank and suggested ways to cut back,” she says.

“I was told that, due to the amount I was drinking, it was unsafe to simply stop, as it could cause side-effects, such as seizures. But I can’t just have one drink. I can’t stop till the bottle’s empty.”

In September 2008, Jamie-Lee earned a Referral Order for carrying a knife while drunk. She was given community service and had to see a team of youth-offending workers, which, for a while, shocked her into cleaning up her act.

Her mum allowed her to return home and she started a business admin course. But, just two months later, Jamie-Lee was placed in a hostel by youth-offending team workers, after attacking her mum.

“I was desperate for drink, but I had no cash,” says Jamie-Lee. “When mum refused to give me money, I saw red and I punched her.”

Jamie-Lee says she’s tried to cut down, saying: “It never lasts because my friends are drinkers. I can’t resist the temptation.”

Left unsupervised, Jamie-Lee went back to her old habits. She quit her course, got charged with assault and her boozing continued to spiral out of control.

Last month, Jamie-Lee was given a two-year Supervision Order for the assault and was warned that she would go to prison if she got in trouble again. Her drinking is now so severe that Jamie-Lee thinks nothing of downing up to a litre of spirits and eight cans of lager – 30 times the recommended daily allowance.

“I can drink Absinthe like water,” says Jamie-Lee, who is currently single. “Sometimes alcohol makes me want to fight, sometimes I just cry all night. When I wake up in the morning after a house party, I drink again.

“Most of my day is spent in front of the TV till it’s time to go out at about 5pm. It’s hard to sleep at night. But I also find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning.”

Meryl says: “I live in constant fear she’s going to drink herself to death.”

In March, Jamie-Lee was given a two-bed flat. Her £65-per-week rent is covered by housing benefit and she pays no council tax. Her £47-a-week income support is used to support her drinking habit.

Doctors have warned Jamie-Lee that her continual drinking could damage her liver. “I’m having tests to see if I’ve caused any damage. But I’m young, I don’t think it will affect me yet,” says Jamie-Lee.

But Closer’s Dr Christian Jessen warns: “If Jamie-Lee continues, she’ll have cirrhosis of the liver in a couple of years, if not sooner. That’s permanent – and she’ll only survive six months without a liver transplant.”

Although still drinking, Jamie-Lee aims to restart her college course in a couple of weeks. “I want to get a job one day. I hate the way people fund my habit,” she says. “I know it’s all wrong, but I don’t know how to stop.”

By Michelle Corbett and Victoria Raymond