He first tried cannabis when he was just 13.

But friends and family watched in dismay as Craig Chard changed from a sensitive, middle-class boy to a stubborn substance abuser.

Five years later he was dead - killed after stepping out in front of car while high on a cocktail of hard drugs.

The popular 18-year-old, known as Bulky, had asked his mother for help getting clean six months before he stumbled into the southbound carriageway of the A24 after a party and was knocked down.

Today heartbroken mother Sue Chard, 57, is urging for teenage drug takers and their parents to get help before it is too late.

She said: “I know there are parents out there ignoring their child's drug taking, maybe because they feel ashamed and embarassed, but I am from a decent family background and I am not afraid to admit my son took the wrong path.

“I don’t want to see it happen again.

“I would urge each of you to try to deal with the situation before another young life is lost.”

Craig was killed after he fell in front of a Skoda Octavia on the A24 at 12.30am on June 28 last year.

Blood tests showed the trainee chef, who lived at home with his mother and sister in Timberlea Close, Ashington, had taken a cocktail of cannabis, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol in the hours before.

At an inquest in Horsham his mother told how she had arranged for police officers to talk to her son about the dangers of drugs but that it had had no effect on him.

And she described how her son’s character changed dramatically as he started experimenting with drugs.

She said: “He began hanging around with older children and became more aggressive and stubborn.

“As a younger child he had been loving, kind hearted and so much fun to be with. He enjoyed scouts, football and helping us run our fishing lake in France. We had a good relationship.

“But he became a very different character. He stopped listening to people and refused to go to school. By 14 he had been permanently expelled because of his attitude problem.

“All of a sudden he was lost in this grown up world and didn’t want to do what people told him to do.

“He came to me six months before he died and broke down. He confessed he had been taking drugs for a very long time and did not want to do it anymore. He said it made him happy temporarily but that feeling did not last.

“Unfortunately his Friday night party nights continued and whatever he decided to take that night is was enough to end his short life.”

Friend Lee Brandford, 19, of Rectory Lane, Ashington, was with Craig on the night of his death.

He said: “The drugs were regularly available to us - all of our personalities changed from taking them.

“His death has had a large effect on everyone.”

Craig, who was described as an “irreplaceable” part of the village, was due to start a job as a chef at the New Moon in Storrington and had been at a house party in Ashington, close to the A24, on the night of his death.

Friends described how after downing wine, vodka and cans of Red Bull the teenager lost his co-ordination and was asked to leave after he spilled drinks on the floor.

He was walked home by a friend, but moments later decided to head back to the party.

Charles Brockhurst-Souter, 19, of The Street, Washington, said: “We went to try and find him, then saw him on the carriageway much more worse for wear.

“He crossed to the central reservation and shouted 'What are you doing?' and that's when it happened. He stumbled out and within seconds he was gone.”

Driver Richard Ball, 56, of Linden Road, Bognor, said: “It was as if someone had parachuted down on us.

“There was a huge crash and the windscreen smashed.

“It all happened in a split second.

”We had no sense of anyone coming from either side, it was just as if he came through the front of the car very suddenly.”

A post mortem showed Craig died instantly from multiple injuries.

PC Michael Scott, from Sussex Police, said he was satisfied Mr Ball could not have avoided Craig and that there was no evidence of speeding.

West Sussex Coroner Penelope Schofield recorded a verdict of accidental death and said she would write to the Highways Agency about lighting on the A24.

She said: “I hope lessons can be learnt and that this highlights the dangers of young people drinking in excess and taking drugs then losing control of their actions.”

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