SEVEN years ago, Pauline Holcroft arrived in south Devon to see her daughter.

Rachel Whitear, a 21-year-old living in Exmouth but once of Withington, was settling down in a new bedsit and was looking for a fresh start after four years of uncertainty.

But there was never a meeting. That day, May 13, 2000, turned into a date that will haunt Pauline and her husband, Mick, forever, and its events are still being played out today.

Rachel had died of a drugs overdose and, from that day to this, the Holcrofts have quested to find out what happened.

This week, after years of fighting, questions and hearsay, they have finally been granted their wish. A fresh inquest into the death of Rachel, the once brilliant schoolgirl from Herefordshire whose life was destroyed by heroin, is finally taking place.