“Seeing your child self -destruction is heartbreaking”: Family of exploited teenage calls for …
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“Seeing your child self -destruction is heartbreaking”: Family of exploited teenage calls for …

February 3, 2025, 10:46 | Updated: February 3 2025, 11:07

Sam Price

Sam Price.

Image: Supplied


The family of a young man who was exploited by a gang requires more support for families affected by modern slavery.

Sam Price died of an overdose of drugs at the age of 21 after spending seven years in the connections to a gang that would exploit him, threaten him with horrible violence and force him to sell his drugs.

Sam’s father, Simon, said: “Sam had ADHD and had a tendency to be a little spontaneous and do things without thinking. I think it made him more vulnerable, and because of his dyslexia he really fought academically. Good and I think he felt very lonely and just wanted to fit in. ”

At the age of 14 and desperately to make friends at a new school and at his local skatepark, Sam started smoking weeds like him by local dealers, but he was soon caught in an exploitative bike to have to sell drugs to feed his new habit, with gang members who repeatedly threaten to kill him if he does not follow.

His family looked helplessly when their once happy, care -free son, was drawn deeper and deeper into a world of criminal exploitation and addiction and lost how to cope.

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Tracey Fisher MBE from the Insurance Institute of Liverpool discusses its support for Causeway

Sam’s mother, Liz, said, “I would regularly hear movement late at night, and I would go down, and Sam would put on his coat to go out. I would try to tell Sam that he did not leave the house, but at that time he was 16, and he was 6’4 “.

“I would get angry, but you could see he was really, really worried and scared. He would say” I have to go, I have to go, I have to go. “And he would more or less shoot me out and go out through the front door.

The family had sought support from Sam’s schools and even reached social services and local dependency specialists, but nothing seemed to help.

As Sam’s dependence on drugs increased, his debts also made the dealers, and his commitment to criminal gangs tightened the grip.

“At one point, Sam was actually stabbed as a warning shot,” Simon said. “It was a message, this time we will knit somewhere that is pretty safe, but next time we will stick you somewhere a little more critical.”

Simon and Liz took their son, now 20 years, to a rehabilitation unit, but they could not make him stop. They were advised by the staff that Sam was not ready yet, and that they needed to “let Sam reach the rock bottom.”

Sam ended up in a bed, where his parents would regularly visit him to make sure he was ok.

“We took him meals and we would pay for his mobile phone. We never wanted to lose contact with him,” Liz added. “Sam would sit and cry in my arms and said I really have tangled. I want to get better.

In March 2018, Simon found Sam’s body.

“I think, probably the worst in the world I’ve ever had, was going to Liz’s work and telling her,” Simon said.

“This type of sleep comes with a lot of debt. The feeling of releasing your child. It is very difficult to live with. We loved, caring parents who really wanted to do the best for our son. But we were lost. We were out of our depth. We didn’t know what to do. ”

Sam’s Aunt, Tracey Fisher, who was awarded a MBE 2012 for services to young people and services to the Eastham community, revealed her family’s story after she made Liverpool-based anti-Slaveri organization Causeway.

She told LBC: “People must know that criminal exploitation can affect all families.

“Sam was in this spiral of down drugs driving, handled. I mean, he continued from weeds to the tougher substances, so on to all the different drugs. He was then sucked in to feed his habit he needs to run.

“Families are fighting, how do you handle it? How can you actually manage it? I guess we may not necessarily necessarily google it to find out what was there, but it just doesn’t feel it (that’s enough support), or Enough education for parents, health care providers, those in this situation where I guess you don’t know where to turn, everyone’s circumstances will be different, but at least if you know you have somewhere you can go for help and advice .

Tracey’s company has made Causeway a charity of the year and says there must be more services available to families who have loved people captured in exploitation, she said: “Don’t give them up. Rat. Talk to organizations like Causeway or try social services, but Don’t give them up and just keep fighting and fighting.

Causeway CEO Helen Ball said: “We are very grateful to Tracey, Simon and Liz to share Sam’s story with Causeway and help us strengthen our anti-Slaveri message. Criminal exploitation destroys lives and unfortunately touches many, many families around the UK.

“Causeway supports people who have experienced criminal exploitation as Sam, as well as thousands of others who have experienced forced labor, sexual exploitation and domestic service. Visit Causeway’s website To find out more about discovering signs of modern slavery and human trafficking and where to get support. “