JUSTICE FOR KATE: OUR Justice for Kate Walsh campaign started in earnest this week, as grieving parents Debbie and Anthony Walsh delivered posters and petitions to shops, pubs and community centres.

The Gazette and Herald has joined forces with the couple from Eastview Terrace, Highworth, to get a change in the law following the tragic death of 16-year-old Kate from a suspected heroin overdose.

Her parents are also determined that the Gloucester House rehabilitation centre is moved from Market Place, Highworth.

They believe their bright and beautiful daughter died because she met a drug addict from the centre when she was just 14 years old.

This week a petition calling for its removal was launched with the backing of the Gazette.

Mr and Mrs Walsh said: "Our 16-year-old daughter died of a suspected heroin overdose after meeting a 27-year-old resident of Gloucester House.

"As parents we are concerned and worried that this could happen to other children. Although we believe that people should be given the chance to break their drug or alcohol dependence, we believe that it is not right for a place like Gloucester House with its problematic drug abusers to be in a small town like Highworth."

They want a change in the law which makes it difficult for agencies to act once a teenager reaches 16 and they are calling on other worried parents in the area to back the campaign.

A serious case review has been instigated by the police and Social Services. It will look into the specific circumstances of Kate's treatment, and piece together what the police and social workers knew about her case and what was and was not done.

Among those joining the Walshes in wanting more answers this week was their constituency MP Michael Wills, who will be meeting them next week.

Mr Wills said: "Obviously I don't know the full facts of the case yet, but the death of Kate Walsh was a terrible tragedy and we must all do what we can to ensure that it never happens again."

Finding answers to how and why Kate came to die in a squalid squat in Swindon is vitally important to Mr and Mrs Walsh, who have a younger daughter Jade, nine, and son, Damien, 18.

Mr Walsh said: "At the moment we are just existing, we can't even begin to move on until we know what exactly happened to Kate and more importantly, why it was allowed to happen."

Mrs Walsh said: "They are investigating the specific circumstances of Kate's death, but there are much wider questions here, and they should not have to wait until someone dies to ask them. This has torn our entire family apart, all we are left with is unanswered questions."

When Kate confessed to her parents in April that she was using heroin, they tried everything to help her.

Mrs Walsh said: "You are torn, you desperately want to help her, but we always said we couldn't have her in the house if she was using, because she shared a room with Jade, who was only eight then. It was terrible trying to trust her and believe what she said, but all the time wondering if she was going off to buy more heroin."

Kate tried repeatedly to beat her addiction, but when she was arrested for shoplifting to feed her habit she was sent to a bed and breakfast in Swindon that was full of older drug addicts. Mr Walsh said: "Why did they put a vulnerable 16-year-old girl in a place like that?"

Mrs Walsh added: "It seems that whenever Kate asked for help, she was just put somewhere more dangerous."

She moved away from home in December and less than a month later was found dead in the squat in Manchester Road. Her parents still don't know why she went there, with whom, what happened or even the exact date of her death.

Kate's 27-year-old boyfriend was in prison for theft when she died but the Walshes have since learned he has been released and they fear he may seek a similiar vulnerable young girl to groom.

Mrs Walsh said: "It is very hard knowing that he is walking the streets, wondering whether he had ever done anything like this before and whether even now he might be doing it again.

"That is why we want to get this campaign going as quickly as possible, because right now there might be more girls like Kate out there going down the same road."

Gloucester House treats around 55 people a year for serious, long term addictions that have left them homeless, jobless, alone and in the gutter.

It is the only residential treatment centre in the area, and it has a success rate higher than the national average.

Manager David Day said: "We cover a wide area and have a long waiting list and we deal with extremely vulnerable people who have nowhere else to go, and we have a fairly good success rate."