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Hannah trombino Mitchell robarge Jared Smith article pt 2

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Hannah trombino Mitchell robarge Jared Smith article pt 2

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https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=75a_1500949597

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Carson's Story- A Young Man's Life and Death

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Mitchell robarge Hannah trombino Jared smith video pt 3

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Mitchell robarge Hannah trombino Jared smith video pt 3

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Dying for a Drink: Alcoholic Needs Help to Get Sober

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZivwWvomYS8

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Hannah trombino, Jared Smith, Mitchell robarge video pt 2

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Hannah trombino, Jared Smith, Mitchell robarge video pt 2

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Tom: Downfall of a Functioning Alcoholic

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2216086/amp/Student-18-downed-bottle-rum-15-MINUTES-bet-falling-death-flight-stairs.html

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Heather Squires was the designated driver. Never exactly a fun thing, but a college buddy of her husband's was driving up from Tucson to celebrate his acceptance into law school. So when her husband, Jason, asked, Heather said yes.

At Chuy's in Tempe, Heather's brother and her husband and the soon-to-be-law-school student knocked off four pitchers of beer. Everybody was having a great time.

Around 9:30 p.m., they decided to head home. So they piled into Jason Squires' new pickup truck. As planned, Heather drove.

They didn't get very far.

A motorcycle cop spotted the truck as Heather drove through the intersection of Baseline Road and Mesa Drive. Not familiar with the truck, she'd failed to flip on her lights. Soon the cop was flipping on his - and they were flashing.

Heather was ordered out of the vehicle and almost immediately handcuffed. She was taken to the Mesa Police Department and charged with both driving under the influence and driving with a blood alcohol content over the legal limit. The truck was searched, then impounded.

Party's over.

Heather Squires was no different from any of the thousands of people who've been charged with DUI this year in Arizona. They drank, they got busted, and now - thanks to the toughest DUI laws in the nation - they can expect jail time, big fines, and an ignition interlock.

Except for one thing.

Heather Squires' blood alcohol content that night was 0.00. The records prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she was an exemplary designated driver.

She hadn't had a drop to drink.

Heather Squires is a 29-year-old legal assistant, but with long blond hair and wholesome good looks, she resembles nothing so much as a fresh-scrubbed high school student.

So it doesn't surprise me that the Mesa policeman's first question was, "How old are you?" On a dark night, it would be easy to assume she was underage and out past curfew.

The problem is, she wasn't. Wasn't underage, wasn't past curfew, wasn't drunk. Wasn't even drinking. The arrest should never have happened. And though Mesa police quietly dismissed the charges against her a month later, I think her case still raises serious questions.

Let's face it. The DUI situation in Arizona is out of control. As I reported earlier this year, drivers are getting popped after just one or two drinks, with blood alcohol contents far below the legal limit.

But Heather's case is the only one I've seen in which the driver drank nothing. It certainly makes me wonder whether her treatment was related to the fact that her husband, Jason, is a DUI attorney based in Mesa.

A few months before Heather's arrest, in fact, he helped a client beat the rap for extreme DUI at a jury trial, even though records suggest the guy was guilty.

The officer who arrested the guy? Bond Gonzalez - the same cop who would arrest Heather Squires.

I would call that a remarkable coincidence, except I'm not so sure it is a coincidence. The truck, after all, was registered to Jason Squires. And when Gonzalez began questioning Heather, Jason immediately identified himself from the back seat, as Gonzalez's report confirms.

Gonzalez wrote in the report that he did not recognize Squires for quite some time. In fact, when Squires showed his bar card to verify that he's an attorney, Gonzalez wrote that Squires was attempting to claim he worked for the county attorney.

I find the officer's report a little disingenuous.

The Squireses agree that, upon his pulling them over, Gonzalez was almost immediately hostile. Rather than ask Heather Squires whether she'd had anything to drink, he ordered her out of the truck. Then he immediately ordered her to do a field sobriety test.

Sensing trouble, Jason Squires advised her to refuse.

"I didn't like the way this was happening," he explains. "At that point, I'm not going to trust him to be fair." It didn't help that the area where they were standing was covered in thick gravel and Heather Squires was wearing strappy heels. As any DUI lawyer knows, that's setting a driver up for failure.

Now, the law is clear. If you refuse a blood test, the police confiscate your license right away and suspend it for a year. By refusing, you're admitting guilt.

But that is not true for field sobriety tests. They are supposed to be optional.

That's not how Gonzalez handled it. When Heather Squires refused the field tests, Gonzalez said he had no choice: "If you're not going to do these, I'm putting you under arrest."

"What for?" Jason Squires asked, incredulous. He knew his wife hadn't been drinking.

Within minutes, she was in cuffs anyway.

The Mesa police are equipped with portable Breathalyzers - a test that would have shown immediately that Squires was not intoxicated. But Gonzalez never administered one.

And though Gonzalez's supervisor showed up, he never administered a breath test, either.

In total, five cops reported to the scene. (Nice use of Mesa's tax dollars, eh?) And not one of them did anything to stop the madness. Not one of them noticed that the woman they were arresting was as sober as an undertaker.

The next day, Jason Squires filed an Internal Affairs complaint, alleging retaliation. He and Heather say there will be a lawsuit.

The Mesa police see things a bit differently. Detective Steve Berry, a spokesman for the department, tells me that by refusing the field test, Heather Squires "forced" Gonzalez's hand.

"He had to look at the totality of the situation," Berry says. "You have a car where the other two individuals are clearly drinking. He smells alcohol. And then you have someone driving without their headlights, not willing to do field sobriety tests - he's left with few options at that point."

Berry adds that Gonzalez likely had no idea whom he was pulling over. Yes, police typically run license plates before making a traffic stop, but they're mostly checking to make sure a vehicle isn't stolen. He's skeptical that Gonzalez actually recognized Squires' name.

But as scary as it is to think that the police harassed the wife of a DUI lawyer, I think the other option is almost scarier.

And that's this: In this time of anti-DUI zeal, are police so eager to make arrests that everyone on the road at night is presumed to be a drunk driver?

It's interesting to read the affidavit that Officer Gonzalez wrote that night about Heather Squires, intending to ask the Motor Vehicles Division of ADOT to yank her license. (He never mailed it - possibly because of the blood-test results.)

It describes "bloodshot and watery eyes."

"Flushed face."

"Strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from breath."

All this on a woman who was sober.

Anyone at that scene should have noticed that Heather Squires didn't smell of alcohol, that her eyes weren't bloodshot, that her face wasn't flushed. She wasn't, after all, drunk.

But that's not what they wanted to see.

There's no one who understands that better than Jason Squires.

Two months ago, when Squires questioned Officer Gonzalez in court for that extreme DUI arrest he'd made, Gonzalez admitted that he'd pull people over at night for things he'd never bust them for during the day. And when a juror asked if he had a quota, Gonzalez replied that he liked to arrest three people per night.

So what if some of them are sober, right?

One month after her arrest, Heather Squires is still nervous behind the wheel.

"Particularly when I'm in Mesa," she admits. "Like, I would not want to call them in an emergency - the people you think are there to help you and assist you are not." Even knowing that she was sober, she says, she agonized over whether the charges would be dismissed.

Keep in mind, this is coming from a woman whose husband handles DUI cases for a living. Most of us would have been on our own.

Honestly, I don't want to believe that Officer Gonzalez sought out the lawyer who beat him in court - and then penalized his wife when she'd done nothing wrong.

But a rogue cop is almost preferable to a system that's stacked against motorists who want nothing more than to get home at night. Those people might not be as sober as Heather Squires proved to be, but after one or two drinks, I'm willing to bet that they don't have bloodshot eyes or reek of booze. You're still going to read that in the police report.

That's how the system works these days.

"We have to fight this," Jason Squires tell me, "for all the people out there who can't."

It's going to be a lonely fight in this teetotaler's paradise. But if nothing else, I bet he's got the Mesa PD's attention.

Drive carefully, Jason.

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Heather Squires was arrested for DUI without drinking a drop of alcohol

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Heather Squires was the designated driver. Never exactly a fun thing, but a college buddy of her husband's was driving up from Tucson to celebrate his acceptance into law school. So when her husband, Jason, asked, Heather said yes. At Chuy's in Tempe, Heather's brother and her husband and the...

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Caleb g

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23-Year-Old Survives Horrific Car Crash Involving Alleged Drunk Driver A Kansas man who survived a horrific car crash in 2015 is still th...

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23-Year-Old Survives Horrific Car Crash Involving Alleged Drunk Driver A Kansas man who survived a horrific car crash in 2015 is still thanking the first responders who saved his life. Jeff Kudlacik survived a March 2015 drunk driving accident which left his car split in two.

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https://www.verywellmind.com/teens-death-exposes-binge-drinking-dangers-66592

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Charge in teen's alcohol poisoning death

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6OqMgqtlo4

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Jared smith, Mitchell robarge, Hannah trombino pt1 VIDEO

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Jared smith, Mitchell robarge, Hannah trombino pt1 VIDEO

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A Day In The Life Of A Chronic Alcoholic

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Drunk Driving Teen Causes Accident Involving Over 14 People

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Jacob)

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Explore recently published dui crash news stories from abc7.com.

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Caleb g

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When the telephone call came, with an invitation to come back "home" for a visit, I had not heard the voice on the other end in over 20 years. I accepted the invitation and made the trip, not realizing I would be walking into the midst of a family in crisis-an emotional powder keg ready to explode.

Chapter 1: A Family in Crisis
One Alcoholic Can Affect Many Lives
This, unfortunately, is a true story about how many lives one alcoholic can effect, and how alcoholism can spiral into a full-fledged family disease.

Chapter 2: An Alcoholic in Denial
Untreated Alcoholism Can Affect the Entire Family
No matter how much they are admonished or scolded, how much encouragement and understanding they are offered, some will never make the decision to stop drinking.

Chapter 12: An Alcoholic's Final Victim
A Second Chance at Life Squandered
After he and Glenda went their separate ways, David went looking for another enabler to support his drink-all-day-everyday lifestyle.

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A True Story of How One Alcoholic Affected Many Lives

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When the telephone call came, with an invitation to come back "home" for a visit, I had not heard the voice on the other end in over 20 years. I accepted the invitation and made the trip, not realizing I would be walking into the midst of a family in crisis-an emotional powder keg ready to explode.

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https://www.kcci.com/article/drunk-driver-gets-30-years-for-wrong-way-crash-that-killed-6-people/25423877

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For much of the time he has known her, the family doctor has been aware of the patient's drinking problem. It apparently began in the early 1970s after she was involved in a lawsuit initiated by a parent of one of her pupils.

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https://www.kcci.com/article/drunk-driver-gets-30-years-for-wrong-way-crash-that-killed-6-people/25423877

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How ALCOHOL DESTROYED this homeless man(sad story)

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https://youtu.be/bUKLHa4f7h4

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Luke Lisko

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They were best friends, both 18, college freshmen, co-workers. Inseparable since kindergarten, Jessica Rasdall and Laura Gorman loved to go out, loved to dance, to have fun. The good times might have lasted a lifetime, but for the tragedy that unfolded on a Florida highway early one February morning in 2006.

It started with a trip to a club. There were drinks, and a walk to the car, with Rasdall taking the wheel. Less than an hour later, Gorman was dead. And her best friend would be charged with killing her.

Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday at 10 p.m. ET.

On average, a drunken driver kills someone every 40 minutes in the United States. That's 36 deaths daily and more than 13,000 annually. The highway deaths are so frequent they can go unnoticed, until one hits close to home.

"My name is Jessica Rasdall, and on Feb. 25, 2006, I killed my best friend," Rasdall, now 22, tells a crowd of high school students packed into a football stadium under a brilliant blue Tampa, Fla., sky.

"Laura Ann Gorman died in the passenger seat of my car ..."

In the last three years, Rasdall has confessed her crime to more than 15,000 people, both young and old, in a speech that never varies, describing the minute details of that tragic night. At the end she plays a slideshow tribute to her dead friend, set to the song "Second Chances" by Michelle Branch.

" I wish I could take her place that night," Rasdall told Elizabeth Vargas of "20/20" in an interview before she went to prison. "I would give anything to have been the one in the passenger seat that night ... Absolutely. No questions asked. ... I would give anything to just bring her back."

Drunken Driving: A Cautionary Tale

Rasdall's story is a cautionary tale of love and loss, of overwhelming regret and remorse. Even as she tries to atone for what happened, she faces accusations of hypocrisy from the Gorman family, who say that her public speaking is merely an attempt to win leniency from the courts. She also has been accused of a pattern of dangerous behavior, of having mixed alcohol and driving in the past.

But most of all, there is the hard reality that she must wake up to each morning. Her best friend is gone, and she is to blame.

There is a sign along Interstate 275 in west central Florida -- near St. Petersburg, where the friends grew up -- in memory of Laura Gorman. It marks the spot where she died. Rasdall said she often visits the crash site and reflects on what might have been.

"It still almost [doesn't] seem real to me that a car accident ... that one night ... in the blink of an eye, everything changed," she said.

The two met in kindergarten. As they blossomed into young women, they dyed each other's hair, experimented with makeup. They even began working at the same restaurant, a local Hooters.

"We were complete opposites but so much alike," said Rasdall, who even now talks about her dead friend in the present tense. "I was the short one, she's the tall one. I was the brunette, she's the blond. You couldn't help but be happy and smile when you're with her."

On the night of Feb. 26, 2006, the two worked their usual shift at Hooters. They headed back to Laura's dorm at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. And then they decided to go out dancing.

Drunken Driving: Inside the Club

With Rasdall driving, they headed to the outskirts of Tampa, to Ybor City, where historic cigar factories have become teeming bars and nightclubs. At the bar that night, women 18 or older got in for free, while men had to be at least 21 and pay to enter.

The girls hit the dance floor and then, Rasdall claims, a man working at the club waved them over to the bar.

"He asked, 'Are you girls 21? Because it doesn't matter,'" Rasdall said. "He got the bartender's attention, told her to order us a drink, and then he said, 'let's switch to shots -- they're quick, they're fast, no one will even see the cup in your hand, it's in and out.'

"It was a really weird feeling, almost like, well, this guy works here and he's saying it's OK, we're allowed to do this."

All of this is documented in photographs from a camera later found in the destroyed car. Best friends posing, dancing and drinking. Haunting images of life, just hours before death.

At 3 a.m., the two women finally left the club. Rasdall said they didn't think twice about getting in the car. With Rasdall at the wheel, the best friends began the 40-minute drive home.

And then, one mile from Laura's dorm, it happened. The car drove off Interstate 275 and down a hill, crashing into a broad tree. Both women were wearing seat belts.

Rasdall said the next thing she remembers, she woke up in the car on the side of the road.

"I didn't know where I was, who I had been with, I couldn't remember anything," she said. "I saw somebody was sitting in my passenger seat. The person's face was turned away from me. I shook her arm. And deep down I knew the person next to me was dead."

When paramedics arrived Rasdall was screaming and in pain. Rescuers using the Jaws of Life freed her and rushed her to the hospital.

A few miles away, Assistant State Attorney Rohom Khonsari was awakened by his cell phone. Minutes later, he arrived at what was now considered a crime scene. There had been a fatality, and DUI was suspected. Walking down from the highway, Khonsari remembers looking inside the vehicle. Laura Gorman, still in the passenger seat, had died of blunt force trauma to her head.

"My heart dropped," Khonsari told Vargas. "That's the first dead body I've ever seen. You instantly think she's young, she's got a family somewhere right now that doesn't know what just happened. It's a picture that's really hard to let go of." At the hospital, nurses cut off Rasdall's clothes and hooked her up to machines. A large gash crossed the side of her head and her left ear was hanging off.

As she was prepped for surgery, Rasdall heard a police officer talking to her mother. He described a purse that belonged to Gorman. Suddenly Rasdall realized who her passenger had been.

"I was screaming at the top of my lungs," she remembered. "'Not Laura! Why not me! Her parents are going to hate me!' And I was screaming, screaming 'I killed my best friend!'"

Drunken Driving: Victim's Family Blames Driver

It took 400 stitches to put Rasdall's head back together. A blood sample was turned over to law enforcement. Tests showed her blood alcohol content was nearly one-and-a-half times the legal limit, evidence that the crash was the result of DUI.

On the day Rasdall came home from the hospital, Gorman's body was placed in a mausoleum.

To this day, the two families, the Rasdalls and the Gormans, once friends, no longer speak.

"They had told us not to come to the funeral," Rasdall said. "I've sent cards, letters, flowers, saying how sorry I am. But they're not ready."

The victim's parents, Rod and Helen Gorman, declined repeated requests to comment for this story, but they did allow prosecutor Khonsari to speak on their behalf.

According to Khonsari, the Gormans were grief-stricken and numb after the accident. It was the second child the couple had lost, he said -- a son had died as a baby.

"They were a mess. And they continue to be angry today," Khonsari told Vargas.

One month after the accident, Rasdall was arrested and charged with DUI manslaughter. In accordance with the Gormans' wishes, prosecutors told the judge that they would seek the maximum sentence of 10 to 15 years in prison. The court case would drag out through three years of court motions and delays.

While Rasdall admits her guilt publicly, in court she pleaded not guilty to DUI manslaughter, hoping to avoid a prison sentence. The court case would drag out through almost three years of court motions and delays.

After entering a plea, Rasdall was handcuffed, shackled, strip-searched and booked, sent to jail until her parents posted bail.

"I was in this uniform that said 'maximum security inmate,'" she said. "And I was just like, I could be spending 10 or 15 years of my life like this. What happened?"

Click HERE to read part 2 of Jessica Rasdall's story, as she emerges from therapy and begins to speak out publicly about drunken driving.

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One night in February 2006, best friends Jessica Rasdall and Laura Gorman, both 18, went to a club and had some drinks. On the way home their car crashed, with Jessica at the wheel. Laura was killed. Jessica was convicted of DUI manslaughter. This is their story.

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Have you have been charged with driving under the influence or driving with an open intoxicant in your vehicle? If so, it is absolutely necessary to hire an aggressive and determined Royal Oak DUI attorney immediately. A conviction can have major consequences that can affect you for the rest of your life. Work with our team of seasoned defense lawyers who will stop at nothing until we obtain a reduction of charges or a case dismissal. Our goal is always to keep you out of jail and to minimize your penalties. Trust us to deliver effective results no matter what your issue.

Aggressive Defense for DUI Charges, Call (248) 543-9000

DUI convictions can have devastating consequences. If your job requires a driver's license, you may not be able to work. You will also experience severe financial repercussions, including fines and increased insurance premiums. For repeat offenders, the stakes are even higher. Whether or not you were impaired during your traffic stop, or no matter how incriminating the blood/breath tests, a Rasor Law Firm DUI lawyer is always able to come up with creative defense tactics that work.
Penalties for a first DUI offense in Michigan:

Up to 93 days in jail

Up to 6 months' license suspension

Up to $500 in fines

Up to six months in jail

People are often mistakenly convicted of DUIs. There are a variety of reasons for this. Breathalyzer test results and field sobriety tests are sometimes incorrect and arrests can be made when people refuse to take them. However, just because you have been arrested does not necessarily make you guilty. It is up to the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, in a court of law, that you were driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Utilize Our Decades of Proven DUI Defense Strategies

Don't wait to fight back against your DUI charges. The sooner you call a DUI attorney at Rasor Law Firm, the more time we have to help you build a strong case. We can protect your rights and fight to make sure that your charges do not haunt you for the rest of your life.

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Have you have been charged with driving under the influence or driving with an open intoxicant in your vehicle? If so, it is absolutely necessary to hire an aggressive and determined Royal Oak DUI attorney immediately. A conviction can have major consequences that can affect you for the rest of your life.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/teen-driver-in-fatal-alcohol-related-crash-sentenced-to-18-months-in-jail/2015/09/10/5f871426-57be-11e5-b8c9-944725fcd3b9_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b0c90ca1091b

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https://wjla.com/news/crime/md-teen-pleads-guilty-in-fatal-drunk-driving-crash-115662

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Mitchell robarge, Jared smith, Hannah trombino

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Mitchell robarge, Jared smith, Hannah trombino

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She was a very normal teenage girl had a good family life, that was until she was 14 she worked as a go-go dancer and had a 31 year old boyfriend. Most people would usually only have a couple drinks but she did not, she would drink until she blacked out. At 40 She was still going clubbing with a group in their 30s and took drugs, like ecstasy so She could drink longer her husband liked a drink, but not on this scale, and he disapproved.

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(Image: Teri Pengilley)

It would be easy to blame my background for my alcoholism, and believe me, I used to.

Living on the breadline with my grandmother, my mum's abandonment, her violent boyfriend, her eventual suicide... no one would argue I hadn't had a difficult childhood. But that's not why I became an alcoholic. I became an alcoholic because I was programmed to drink and didn't know when to stop.

I can't remember my first taste of alcohol, although on the occasions that mum showed up at my gran's, she'd bring bottles of cider and let me try it. I can't have been more than eight, but I didn't hate it. I didn't realise she was an alcoholic then, apparently my dad was too, but I never met him.

How it all started

My teenage years were troubled. Despite being a bright girl, I ran away to Brighton when I was 14 to work as a go-go dancer and had a 31-year-old boyfriend. Fortunately, the police found me and took me back to my gran's in Suffolk and I scraped enough grades at school to get into a polytechnic in Middlesbrough.

It felt like I'd been given the chance to make a fresh start. I enjoyed the social side and was called champion female drinker after downing a yard of ale. The problem was, if I had one drink, I couldn't stop - and I didn't want to.

For most people, the first drink feels good, but after three or four they might start to feel nauseous. An alcoholic like me never reaches that point, I'd black out before I stopped. Blackouts happened to me a lot, but when I had one I'd still be able to walk, talk and cook meals. I just wouldn't remember any of it afterwards.

I wasn't drunk every day from the age of 18, but patterns were forming. After college, I got my first proper job at a school for the deaf where I met my ex husband. We married when I was 22. He was a good man and over the 24 years we were together, he saw a lot that I'm ashamed of - as did our son - but I'd rather not talk about them much as they've been through enough.

Professionally, I've always done well for myself. When I started working in the pharmaceutical industry I earned good money, drove a BMW and hid my drinking from colleagues. Yes, they saw me as a party girl, but I always got the job done. I didn't think I had a problem with booze because I didn't need it to get me through the day, it was all social. Besides, I had expensive taste: Chablis, Sancerre, Champagne. I could get through three bottles before blacking out.

Hitting rock bottom

At 40 I was still going clubbing with a group in their 30s and took drugs, like ecstasy, so I could drink longer. I was getting out of control. My husband liked a drink, but not on this scale, and he disapproved.

Around this time my hangovers got really bad. I'd wake up with the shakes and dry heaving. Then, on a work jolly to Tenerife, I unravelled. Knowing I'd overdone it I sloped off, locked myself in my room and drained the mini bar. It was a new low.

I woke up jittery and thought about throwing myself off the balcony, but a worried colleague came to my rescue. I told my boss I'd had a nervous breakdown and got signed off work, but even then I didn't realise I had a dependency on alcohol. I thought I drank because I'd had this terrible life.

At home all day with no structure, I began to have regular 24-hour binges. I'd start the day with a mug of vodka and neck any cheap beer or spirits I could find. My husband would return to find me drunk on the couch. I was in a rut of self-loathing.

Then came the suicide attempts. Aged 45, bottle of vodka in hand, I called a friend saying I was going to kill myself. Next thing I knew, the police were banging on the door and an ambulance arrived. When I got to hospital they wouldn't admit me because I was so p*ssed.

As I sat in the corridor full of pity, this huge guy with tattoos marched up to me, took my hands and said, "It will never get worse than this." He was right, I had hit rock bottom, but I still checked into a hotel with another bottle and some codeine tablets. Luckily, I blacked out before I hurt myself, but I tried again on several other occasions. I'm not sure I wanted to die, I just wanted the misery to stop.

Getting life together

In a moment of clarity, I realised my private health insurance covered rehab, so I went to The Priory. But despite my good intentions, the day I got out I went to a bar. Another day I was having a meal with a girlfriend and drinking wine, discussing how I wasn't an alcoholic. Three days later I came out of a blackout.

My downward spiral continued into another unsuccessful suicide attempt. Somehow I'd left a slurring message for a guy I'd met in The Priory and he found me. Back at his house, he played Fawlty Towers to get me through the night and I'm so grateful to him. Even so, I found a bottle of wine in his fridge and took a swig. That mouthful - 14 years ago this March - was the last I ever had.

The fear got me in the end. I was so scared of dying I had to stop drinking. I joined a
12-Step Fellowship that helped me stay sober, but emotionally I struggled to make sense of it all. At first I expanded like a balloon because I was replacing alcohol with chocolate, then I became a skeleton dealing with the emotional fallout. Then my marriage ended as a result.

Four years later at a retreat in Devon something clicked. They practised a spiritual programme where you give your life to a higher power - or 'God' as you understand him - and it works for me.

Despite my scientific background, I believe angel-like presences have helped me in my darkest moments and it gives me comfort. It was only by hitting rock bottom I was able to put myself back together, and with the help of my sponsor, I review my life daily, working out where to make amends and how to cope with fear and resentment. When I started admitting my faults and forgiving people, I never looked back.

I genuinely believe I won't drink again as long as I stick to the programme. Now I work with people who have drug and alcohol problems, and I go to festivals where other people are drinking, but I know I can't. People talk about overdoing it at Christmas and detoxing in January, but it doesn't work for people like me. Every day is sober for me now, and my life is better because of it.
Dee's story is a chapter in Recovery Stories: Journeys Through Adversity, Hope & Awakening by Kate Jopling (£14.95, Waterside Press).
Do you drink too much?

While you might not have an alcohol dependency like Dee, many of us drink a little more than we should...

Government guidelines recommend that women drink no more than three units of alcohol a day and have at least two booze-free days a week.

With two medium glasses of wine (5 units) classed as a binge (the most harmful kind of drinking), hands up who's guilty of overdoing it? Julie Breslin, from Addaction, explains why we shouldn't be flippant...

● "We assume that if it's not affecting our immediate health we needn't worry, but it's the long-term damage that's really problematic. The risk of breast cancer goes up considerably with heavy drinkers, as does heart and liver disease."

● "The "after work glass" is dangerous if poured out of habit. Start a drink diary, look for patterns. 35 units a week (three and a half bottles of wine) is considered harmful. Note when you're drinking emotionally or out of routine - and cut back."

● "The extent of alcohol damage worsens when combined with poor diet, fitness and living conditions."

● "In the short-term, drinking excessively affects sleep quality, moods and mental ability making you irritable and less focused. Not good for relationships or jobs."

● "Don't assume you know your limits and that's it. As you age, your metabolism changes and so does the way you break down alcohol. It's more harmful to drink the volume you drank in your 20s in your 50s."
For help with alcoholism, visit Addaction.org.uk. Love celebrities, fashion and real life? Like The Sunday Mirror's Notebook magazine on Facebook.

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Reformed alcoholic of 14 years reveals how she used to drink Vodka for BREAKFAST

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It would be easy to blame my background for my alcoholism, and believe me, I used to. Living on the breadline with my grandmother, my mum's abandonment, her violent boyfriend, her eventual suicide... no one would argue I hadn't had a difficult childhood. But that's not why I became an alcoholic.