Rachel Jayne Whitear (6 February 1979 – 10 May 2000) was a young woman from Withington, Herefordshire, who died of a heroin overdose in Exmouth, Devon, in May 2000 at the age of 21. She had been a frequent user of the narcotic for two years, having been introduced to heroin usage by her partner, Luke Fitzgerald, in 1998. Following Whitear's death, her parents authorized the publication of a police photograph of their daughter's slumped, flaccid and discoloured body as she was discovered clutching a syringe inside a rented bedsit approximately two days after her death. Her death and the publication of official police photographs of her body also led to a nationwide anti-drug campaign in Britain involving on a 22-minute documentary titled Rachel's Story which focuses upon her life, her potential, her struggles with heroin addiction, and ultimate overdose. The particular focus of the broadcasting of this documentary was nationwide secondary schools. The nationwide anti-drug campaign following Whitear's death has been compared to the anti-ecstasy campaigns undertaken after the 1995 deaths of English teenager Leah Betts and Australian schoolgirl Anna Wood. Early life Rachel Jayne Whitear was born in Weymouth, Dorset, on 6 February 1979, the younger of two children born into a middle-class household. She was raised in Withington, Herefordshire, where her family relocated in 1980. Whitear had one brother, Ryan. Following the separation of her parents and her mother's remarriage, she gained a stepbrother, Ian, and stepsister, Sarah. As an adolescent, Whitear devoted much of her time to raising money for charitable causes by participating in sponsored activities such as walking and swimming. She is also known to have encouraged her parents to purchase The Big Issue to donate to the homeless. Scholastically, Whitear was an excellent student; obtaining 10 GCSE passes in 1995. She was also an accomplished pianist and an avid football fan. Teenage years Recreational drug usage Whitear began using cannabis and ecstasy at age 14 in 1993. According to a friend named Polly North, Whitear first began smoking cannabis, before progressing to occasionally taking ecstasy, largely as a means of garnering acceptance and popularity from her peers. Nonetheless, her occasional teenage recreational drug use did not impact with her studies, and her parents were initially unaware of her use of narcotics. Qualifications and A-Levels Following the completion of her secondary school education at Aylestone School, Whitear enrolled at Hereford Sixth Form College, where