Tabitha Saker: How did this girl's mother end up in jail saving her from drugs?
Difficult decision: Tabitha Saker was tied up by her mother and ex-boyfriend when they tried to stop her buying drugsThis is lunacy. Tabitha wrote a six-page letter to the judge pleading for her mother not to be jailed - but she ignored it Doting parents: Julia and Tim at a gig in CardiffTabitha was always the more determined, headstrong twin. She and her brother did well at their Roman Catholic primary school, then won places at a highly regarded grammar school in Sandwich.But around the age of 14, Tabitha began to lose interest in her studies. She became sullen and rebellious, but her parents hoped it was just a phase. She did reasonably well at her GCSEs, says Tim. But then she dropped out of school at 17 while she was studying for her AS levels.Around this time, Tabitha began s! eeing an unemployed boy who was a few years older than her and who Tim describes as undesirable.It was through this relationship that Tabitha was introduced to drugs, and around this time that her parents noticed she didnt seem her old self: she was listless, lethargic and seemed increasingly detached from everyday life. Tabitha admitted to her mother that she was smoking marijuana, and there were suspicions in the family that she might also be taking the horse tranquilliser ketamine.Explains Tim: Julia tried to persuade Tabitha to stop, but she wouldnt listen. She was at an age where we were powerless to stop her going out.Our only option would have been to throw her out, but we felt it was better for her to be at home where we might be able to exert some influence.When Tabitha wasnt slowed down by drugs, she was sometimes aggressive. She would row with Julia, and on two occasions she pushed her mother down the stairs. But Julia never retaliated, he says.Tabithas relationship with her boyfriend broke down and she met Chris Francklin an unemployed young man who would later be involved in the incident that landed Julia in jail and started experimenting with the drug Ecstasy.Tabitha told her father Francklin occasionally took Ecstasy, but was against hardcore drugs such as heroin. She and Chris split up four months later, and he decided to go travelling in Peru. Idyllic childhood: Tabitha as a young girlTabitha was nearly 19 when she announced to her parents that she wanted to be a casino croupier and enrolled on a course in Blackpool. She travelled there twice a week, living at home the rest of the time.She became thin and gaunt, and looked ill, says Tim. We suspected that drugs were the cause, but Tabitha always denied it.Living back home with her parents after completing the croupier course, Tabitha started seeing a new boyfriend an East European man she called Russia, who, her parents later discov! ered, ha d a criminal record for assault.When she wasnt out with him, Tabitha would barricade herself in her room by jamming a chair against the door. When her mother tried to get into her daughters bedroom, she was subjected to a torrent of verbal abuse.Worried sick, her parents feared they were losing their daughter to drugs. One day last summer, Tim made a routine check of his bank balance online and was perturbed to spot a 300 cash withdrawal which neither he nor his wife had made, as well as several amounts of 70, 50 and 40 taken out in close succession. I phoned Julia and she said Tabitha had her bank card. Sometimes Tabitha would pop to the shops to buy bread and milk, and she would use the card then. When we confronted her about these withdrawals, all she said was that she would give us back the money.Several weeks later, Julia returned home from work to find all her jewellery had gone. When we confronted Tabitha, she tried to blame a friend who had been in the house, but eventually she admitted she was addicted to heroin and crack cocaine, Tim says. She said a man called Phil who had a crush on her had introduced her to crack cocaine to get her dependent on him. I dont know if thats true: drug addicts often tell lies.As for Julias jewellery, Tabitha had pawned the lot. Wed had suspicions, but this still came as a terrible shock.From then on, Tabitha made no effort to hide her drug habit, and her distraught parents found discarded syringes strewn about her room. Then came the fateful night last October that proved to be a hammer-blow for the family.Chris Francklin was staying with the Sakers after his return from Peru. He had heard that Tabitha was taking heroin and had offered to visit to try to help her get off drugs.Tabithas parents had agreed he could stay with them, though Tabitha was still seeing Russia and spending time with her addict friend Phil. On the evening in question, Phil was loitering outside the house, the assumption being that he had arranged to meet Tabitha to take drugs.I was at work ! at the t ime, but Julia told me later what happened, says Tim. Chris saw Tabitha trying to climb out of her ground-floor bedroom window and tried to stop her, but things got out of hand. There was a tussle. Julia put some parcel tape around Tabithas legs to stop her kickingout. The irony is that the parcel tape was to pack away our ornaments because we were afraid Tabitha was going to pawn them
The Saker familys sprawling Victorian home sits in the chalky downlands overlooking Dover. Despite its proximity to the town, it feels hidden away.It is within these walls that Tim Saker, his wife Julia, and their twins Tabitha and Christopher (known as Kit) enjoyed a peaceful existence before heroins pernicious influence tore apart their lives.Tabithas addiction to heroin, then crack cocaine, has had consequences which go well beyond blighting the life of a bright and beautiful girl whose future once looked so promising.
Today, her 50-year-old mother is one month into a 12-month jail sentence for false imprisonment after tying up her daughters legs with parcel tape to stop her leaving the house to meet an addict friend.Mr Saker has been doing his best to care for 19-year-old Tabitha alone, but admits it has been hard. Two weeks ago she went out and didnt come home. A week later, he received a letter saying she had gone into detox, but he had no idea where she was until last Saturday, when she came home for a few hours to pick up some clothes. She told him she was in a drugs rehabilitation unit in Maidstone.Her brother, Kit, is away at university, and Mr Saker, a civil servant, is alone in the house, struggling to come to terms with the fact that his wife is in prison for trying to protect their daughter, and that his own life is in chaos.
Tims 53rd birthday earlier this month was spent alone. Julia will be in jail on their silver wedding anniversary on March 15 which is also Tabitha and Kits 20th birthday. I am allowed to visit Julia once a week in prison for an hour, and we speak once a day for a couple of minut! es, he s ays. However, there have been times when her phone credit has run out and weve gone a couple of days without speaking.Julia is holding up as well as can be expected, but its hard, and Im desperately worried about Tabitha. What has happened is sheer lunacy. Tabitha wrote a six-page letter to the judge pleading for her mother not to jailed and the probation service recommended a non-custodial sentence, but the judge ignored them. Julia Saker bears absolutely no resemblance to the average prison lag. Her home and family are her life, and she is devoted to her dogs, cats and the 12 chickens living in the back garden. A devout Roman Catholic, Julia has an exemplary record working on the youth and community team at the local council, and has been involved with the Riding for the Disabled Association. Yet her recent criminal conviction means she is unlikely ever to be allowed to work with children again.Few parents will fail to sympathise deeply with the plight of a mother who was simply trying to protect her daughter from a drug that was destroying her life. Nor could they fail to be shocked at the terrifying speed at which a grammar-school girl from a loving, middle-class family became a gaunt, desperate junkie. Tabitha and her brother had a relatively pampered childhood. She and Kit had their own ponies and enjoyed foreign holidays with their parents.
Tabitha grabbed a knife, and he grabbed the knife off her. Chris tried to restrain her and may have hit Tabitha a bit, but she was giving back as good as she got. Chris called to Julia for help and she came running in. Julia put some parcel tape around Tabithas legs to stop her kicking out and leaving the house, while Chris held her down. That was all she did. The irony is that we had the parcel tape in the house to pack away our ornaments because we were afraid Tabitha was going to pawn them.It all happened in the heat of the moment, but Julia didnt lay a finger on Tabitha.A 999 call was made, and Tabitha was heard screaming at Julia and Chris to stop hurting her, saying she couldnt breathe. Newspaper reports of the court case state that Tabitha made the 999 call. However, Tim says a friend of Tabithas told him Chris had called the police after Tabitha went for him with the knife.Details of what could be heard during the call were taken out of context, says Tim. The call went on for about 20 minutes, and at one point things were relatively calm and Julia gave Tabitha a cigarette.The police arrived and Julia was arrested. Tim took a phone call from Julia on her way to the police station. She was in tears, saying she had been arrested, he explains. I rushed home to find the police there, and I was told Julia and Chris had tried to restrain Tabitha. I wasnt allowed to speak to Julia that night she was locked in a cell at the police station.Tabitha spent that night at the family home.Tim saw his wife in the dock at a magistrates court hearing the following day, where she was refused bail on the basis that she might! try to interfere with witnesses. She was taken to a womens prison and placed on suicide-watch. Bail was eventually granted a week later.While Julia was on remand, Tim was not permitted to see his wife and was able to speak to her on the phone only a handful of times. It was terrible; we didnt know what was going on, he says. It was such a relief when I collected Julia from prison, and she was so glad to be out. Tabitha was overjoyed to see her mother, too. She has consistently refused to give evidence against her mother.The case was brought because Julia gave a taped interview at the police station after her arrest.After Julias release on bail, Tabitha agreed to join a heroin withdrawal programme. This involved taking the heroin substitute methadone, with Tabitha relying on her mother for support and encouragement. As far as Tim is aware, his daughter has not taken heroin since.Last month, Tim and Tabitha were at Canterbury Crown Court to see Julia sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to false imprisonment. Chris Francklin was jailed for 18 months for the same offence.Tim says: Tabitha feels very guilty. She says it should be her in prison, and has been to visit her mother twice. Ive been lost without Julia. I miss her terribly, and worry about her.Tim was sick with worry about Tabitha when she disappeared recently, and was relieved to see her last Saturday.She was looking much more like herself, and says the rehab is going well, says Tim. She hopes to be home in about a weeks time.Its been hard for Kit, too, though he accepts that his sisters drug addiction and the consequences of it are beyond her control. Despite everything, Tim says his wife is not angry with Tabitha: Deep down, I am, but Julia isnt. She says that if what has happened shocks Tabitha into getting off heroin, it will have been worth it.A fine sentiment, but most people will question whether this devoted mother should have been put through such a terrible ordeal at all.
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