How the odd joint led to heroin and destroyed a loving family

Julie Henderson is starting to see clearly now and is determined to fight on for the sake of her two children, look to the future while trying to forget the past as she picks up the pieces after being rocked by the tragic loss of her partner Nick, the father of her three-year-old girl Louise, to cocaine and heroin. Julie, who has lived and worked in Majorca for the past 14 years, met Nick four years ago and fell in love “he had a family, life and a future, he was bright, a businessman, a fantastic father, we had a wonderful strong relationship,” Julie said yesterday. Nick's body was found on September 1, lying in front of a windmill in Son Banya, he had died of an overdose apparently on August 28, the last time Julie or her children saw Nick - he was 26. A true sign of Julie's inner strength and determination is that she is prepared to talk about her ordeal and how, when Nick and Julie bought the Corner Bar in La Lonja, Nick was “not even a drinker and had never touched drugs before.” They met at a local hostel where Julie worked and Nick was working on the boats and eventually the two decided to take over the bar just before Christmas 1998. Julie told of how at first Nick would smoke the occasional joint and that she though nothing of it, but eventually Nick got to know the dealers and would turn a blind eye to what was going on on the other side of the bar. But then came the favours in return and Julie says Nick found cocaine. “A year later in December last year, we sold the bar, I could not cope,” she said yesterday. The situation came to a head for Julie when she finally discovered that Nick was using heroin. “I did not find out until one day he pulled up his sleeves and showed me the tracks.” That was January 4, 1999. Julie said yesterday that as his addiction reached its peak, he was spending 50'000 pesetas per day on heroin and shooting up 13 times a day. Julie took Nick to Son Dureta, she was given a few telephone numbers, but the waiting list for rehabilitation was three to four months. “I was finding needles in the bath...”