THE mother of a teenage girl who died from a drugs overdose after taking refuge at the home of a self-styled white witch today blasted sentences given to two people in connection with the death.

Sue Strickson spoke out after Sally Corkhill, 41, and her lover Lee Harrison, 31, appeared at Preston Crown Court following the death of her daughter Melissa, 13, in October last year.

Corkill, of Sudell Road, Darwen, pleaded guilty to four abduction charges and two of administering a controlled drug and received a total of two years. Harrison received nine months but was released immediately after serving eight months on remand.

Melissa, of Tythebarn Street, Darwen, died after taking a huge dose of co-proxamol. Hours earlier she had watched two of her three friends take half a tablet each after watching Corkhill slip five crushed tablets into Harrison's beer. The three had run away from home and sought refuge at Corkhill's house.

The four girls, three of who cannot be named for legal reasons, turned up at Corkhill's house on October 8 last year and were allowed to stay overnight. Both the police and the Melissa's mother visited the house the night before the teenager's death, but Corkhill denied they were there.

Judge Openshaw said: "I accept that when you invited the girls in there was never any sinister intention but no attempt was made to contact the police or the parents of the girls.

"Your own undisciplined and use of drink and drugs within your lifestyle attracted them. Strangers have no right to interfere in family matters by harbouring children and you even lied about not knowing where they were.

"It is right to say that Melissa helped herself to huge quantities of pill but they were in an unlocked cupboard and the girls had seen you get them.

"Melissa's death is tragic and had she not stayed at your house she may well be alive now.

"To Melissa's family and friends, no sentence will ever be sufficient for their loss."

Outside court, Mrs Strickson led protests against the sentence, saying: "We need a public inquiry. A lot has gone wrong. If the police were so suspicious that the girls were hiding at Corkhill's house, why didn't they go back again. If they had, my daughter might well still be alive.

"She has run away 27 times from home yet it wasn't until last summer we actually had a social worker come round. Then we were just passed around from department to department. If they had been quicker, this might never have happened."

"Social services are investigating if they did anything wrong but we don't know if it will be made public or not.

"I need people to write to their MPs and put on pressure for a public inquiry. The only comfort I can ever get is knowing that action has been taken to make sure this will never happen again."

Leonard Bean and Joan Gearing had travelled from London to protest outside court.

Mr Bean said: "This should never be allowed to happen again."

Chief Inspector Neil Smith, who was in court to hear the verdict, said it was inappropriate to comment.

Ken Foote, of social services at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "Melissa was the victim of a criminal act. These people kept Melissa from her family and police with tragic consequences.

"That said it is always important to assess if there are lessons to be learnt. But early indications are that all agencies who had contact with Melissa and her family acted appropriately and in a co-ordinated way.

"Indeed it appears that in some instances the agencies acted beyond their statutory responsibilities."

"The review will show that social services and education offered extensive support to Melissa and her family over a period of time and were working hard to keep the family together, when this tragedy occurred."