A teenage girl in a coma for four months after being injected with heroin has shown signs of improvement.

Ten-weeks-pregnant Amy Pickard, 17, has been receiving round-the-clock treatment since being found slumped in Hastings town centre toilets.

Her daughter, Summer Louise, was born by Caesarean section but died five days later.

At the weekend Amy's mother, Thelma Pickard, of Sandown Road, Hastings, said Amy had been responding well to treatment at the Conquest Hospital.

She said Amy was now well enough to sit in a wheelchair, although she was still comatose and unable to communicate.

Saturday was Mrs Pickard's 48th birthday. To mark the occasion she held a small champagne celebration at Amy's bedside with hospital staff and her son David, 21.

Mrs Pickard said: "Amy's a battler like me and, God willing, she'll pull through. But it's still up in the air.

"There is still a long way to go but I know that if there's a team of people who are going to help her, it's those at the Conquest Hospital. I cannot speak highly enough of them. Although they treat everyone equally, it is a little different when a child is involved."

Mrs Pickard gave up working as an auxiliary nurse to keep a constant vigil at her daughter's side.

She hopes Amy will soon be well enough to be transferred to a neurological unit in Putney, London. In the meantime Mrs Pickard has been warning of the devastating effects of heroin in Hastings.