‘At 19, God almighty, you haven’t even taken your first step on the road to adulthood’ 

Since he lost his son to alcohol-related suicide, John Higgins has campaigned against the grip drink has on young people, and opposes the industry’s involvement in schools via Drinkaware

John Higgins with a photo of his son David who he lost to alcohol-related suicide at the age of 19. 'Since David went, there have been a few more [deaths] that we would have known of, but people just don’t speak out.' Picture: Karen Cox

A candle, kept lit day and night, helps the Higgins family remember their only son David, who they lost in 2011 at the age of 19 to an alcohol-related suicide.

“It’s still like yesterday,” his father John Higgins says. “I often wake up wondering ‘Jesus, did that really happen?’