CARLY'S family have described her as a 'free spirit' who, while being loving and intelligent, was a law unto herself.

It was two years ago that they discovered she had developed a drug problem.

Since then they continuously tried to help her stop the habit.

They enlisted the help of social services to provide expert additional help.

Her mother Vanessa Stirling, who has remarried and now lives in Doncaster, said: "In the beginning we did everything, including take her home kicking and screaming to try to help her stop taking drugs.

"We would take her bowling, ice skating -- anything to keep her occupied rather than let her slip back again.

"But then she would just leave the house and not return for days, and you'd know it had started again.

"Sometimes we wouldn't hear from her for weeks and it was as if she didn't want to hear that we loved and cared for her, she didn't want to hear us asking her to come home.

"It seemed easier for her to pretend that no one cared, when the reality was the whole family was worried about her."

Her father, Alan, aged 44, who lives in Little Lever, said: "Because of her missing school, we were worried that she was falling behind in her work and wouldn't catch up, so we enrolled her in a private school.

"But just a few days after she started we got a call from the school saying Carly had been seen getting on a bus heading into town, and we knew that she had gone back to the drugs.

"Sometimes when she hadn't been home for a while, she would drive past and shout out 'I love you Dad' and then just carry on. It was heartbreaking, but there was nothing we could do."

Carly's mother appealed for people not to judge her daughter.

Mrs Stirling, who also has a son Simon, aged 27 and 21-year-old daughter Lianne, said: "She may have been a drug addict and a prostitute, but people shouldn't judge her.

"When lads use heroin, they steal and rob to keep their habit going. Many girls will become prostitutes to support their habit, and the only people they are hurting is themselves

"They are not out stealing or mugging elderly women, they are just hurting themselves.

"When people read she was mixed up with drugs, they will probably think her family didn't care, and they must be bad, but we did everything we could for Carly, she was loved and cared for and we were always trying to help her. There was a lot of good in her."