Cannabis at 13, heroin by 14... EXCLUSIVE Vikki Hudson was a quiet teenager until she tried drugs at just 13. Injecting heroin by 14 her subsequent addiction almost tore her family apart. Here Vikki, 24, shares her story...

Byline: Lisa Stocks

After signing in at school registration Vikki Hudson ran off to woods to play truant for the day.

But unlike classmates who were smoking cigarettes, 14-year-old Vikki was injecting her first heroin of the day.

The schoolgirl closed her eyes and fell back against a tree as the warm sensation rushed through her.

Vikki's descent into drug addiction would last another eight years and nearly tear her family apart. In the worst stages she was injecting 13 times a day, lying, stealing and cheating to fuel her habit.

It was only at the age of 22 when Vikki discovered she was six months pregnant that she was able to quit.

Looking back, Vikki, who lives with her partner Anthony Cockeram, still struggles to understand her descent into drug addiction.

Growing up in a close family in a small village in Uttoxeter, Staffs, she was never the type to get into drugs. "I had a really sheltered childhood," she says. "We didn't see much in life that wasn't good, playing outside a lot with my brother and sister. Everything was very innocent.

"We moved house , when I started secondary school. That's when it all changed."

Desperate to impress, Vikki - then 13 - fell in with a bad crowd. "I was quite clueless," admits Vikki, now 24. "I hadn't seen druggies before so I didn't know how dangerous it was. I knew I shouldn't be doing it but it was a bit of fun."

Most days Vikki went to the woods with older children and soon asked to try the cannabis they were smoking. Within weeks she'd tried amphetamines too and three months later she smoked heroin for the first time.

She says: "The older kids made up a pipe for us in the woods. It was like having a big warm blanket wrapped around you."

Within weeks Vikki and her pals were chipping in for pounds 10 of heroin every day. A year on, her tolerance had built to smoking five bags a day.

"I got with my boyfriend Anthony then," she says. "He had just come out of the Army and was into drugs too. "We were smoking pounds 50 of heroin a day. Then we heard we'd save loads of money if we just injected. We'd use less from a needle and get a stronger, quicker hit.

"Of course I was a bit scared. But me, Anthony and a friend clubbed together to get a bag. And we bought 10 needles for pounds 2 at Boots and injected it at his relative's.

"I was stupid. All I was thinking was 'Oh, this is great, I only need a little bit'."

In the first four months Vikki injected twice a day, but it quickly doubled. At 14 she was spending up to pounds 80 a day.

She says: "I would sneak into my parents' room and steal from their pockets. I'd raid a cash box under the stairs where money was kept from my dad's construction business." would my

With sometimes hundreds of pounds disappearing from the house and reports of truancy, Vikki's parents now realised there was a problem.

A friend's parents even told mum Noreen the teenager was taking heroin, but she managed to convince her it was a one-off. "I'm not sure if my mum was in denial," says Vikki. "She knew I had taken heroin at least once, and if I came in looking drowsy she'd look at my arms.

"But even when my dad suspected me of stealing, Mum said I'd never be capable of it - though she did start to sleep with the key to the cash box under her pillow.

"When I was really desperate I'd crawl across their floor, steal the key, take pounds 100 and slide it back under the pillow without waking her."

Vikki and Anthony fell further into addiction and soon the police got involved. Vikki's home was raided several times.

As things spiralled Noreen, 52, gave up her job in the family firm to keep an eye on Vikki. She insisted Anthony move in so she could keep tabs on him too.

But after eight failed attempts to get off the drug through methadone programmes, six-stone Vikki hit rock bottom, now injecting herself 13 times a day.

It was only the shock of finding out she was six-and-a-half months pregnant that gave Vikki, now 22, and Anthony the jolt check arms they needed. "My first instinct was to get off it straight away," says Vikki. "But the doctors told me that could put the baby in even more danger. They said I had to come off it gradually.

"I hadn't had a period for seven years and when I found out what I had been doing to my own baby, I was devastated. I knew I had to quit. I last injected the week before he was born."

Callum was born healthy on August 18, 2007, weighing 6lbs 3oz with no signs of withdrawal. But tragically he died at just 12 weeks. "It was such a shock," says Vikki. "He was a gorgeous little boy. All these maternal instincts kicked in and I knew I would put him before myself and stay off drugs.

"I suffered withdrawal symptoms - sweating, diarrhoea, vomiting - but I did the methadone programme properly that time, for Callum's sake.

"When he died I went to pieces and turned to drugs the very next day. It was where I'd always gone for comfort and I was on gear for the next two weeks.

"My family dragged me back and reminded me what Callum meant to me. I've been clean ever since."

An inquest returned an open verdict after hearing that Callum could have been exposed to carbon monoxide. Vikki believes it was a cot death.

More heartache followed when the couple's second baby, Milly May, was stillborn at seven months last January.

"When Milly died going back to drugs didn't come into my mind," says Vikki. "After everything Anthony and I have been through there's no way we're going back. We want to build a good life and help other people going through the same hell as we did. We are training to be substance misuse advisors.

"Some day we want a family, I want to be a good mum. I can't dwell too much on the past because all the horrible memories would drag me back.

"So I think of Callum and Milly as blessings. They saved my life and now I've got more hope than I ever did."

... MUM NOREEN SAYS..

" Vikki was a quiet little girl, she always wanted people to like her. There were early clues I should have noticed. She was caught skiving off school.

And when she was 15 her friend's mum told me to check her arms for marks. Stupidly, I believed it was a one-off. I made lots of mistakes, including not telling Vikki's dad. I was in denial. She stole money from us, but I wouldn't let myself believe it.

I had to admit it when she was 17 though. The house was raided by police who thought she was dealing. I was on my own and was a gibbering wreck. I didn't understand what was going on.

After that I knew things were really bad. I stopped work to watch her. Again and again she convinced me she was getting clean. Then one morning I went to the fridge and it was empty. I knew she'd taken all the food and I tracked her down to this disgusting drug den. I ran in and there were people lying all over the place. I was terrified I'd find Vikki curled up in some hole. When I found her I dragged her home.

Over the next three or four years I did this regularly. I understand why some parents throw their kids out. But when I saw the other people she was with, I could never do it to her.

Things changed so quickly as soon as she found out she was pregnant. All Vikki wanted was to be a good mum.

When Callum died, it was an horrendous time for all of us. She slipped back into drugs but pulled herself back and has been clean since.

I'm so proud of her. But I know it was Callum who saved her. She will fight to stay off drugs in his memory and for her little girl Milly. "

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HIGHS AND LOWS: Aged 19 FRESH START: Vikki and mum Noreen PICTURES: HARVEY HOOK/ CATERS