Family’s poignant tribute to Kristie

Kristie Bishop who was 35, died after taking opiates and cocaine after lapsing back into drug-taking following a period of rehabilitation.

She made national headlines two years ago after appearing on daytime television programme, The Jeremy Kyle Show, when she made emotional pleas for help in curing her serious issues.

Through her appearance on the show, Kristie was sent on a 12-week residential rehab programme with the Perry Clayman Project (PCP), which initially helped her to tackle her addiction.

Her auntie, Jolli Waterland, is to open an eaterie on May 17, in the former Sit and Settle premises on Sherrard Street, which will be called ‘Kristie’s’ and will raise money to help other addicts deal with their problems with 10 per cent of profits being given to the PCP organisation.

Kristie’s mum, Dominique Carnall, said the cafe would help keep her daughter’s memory alive and it would help the family deal with her loss.

She told the Melton Times: “It’s just been awful to lose Kristie, it’s been really, really sad but this has lifted my spirits.

“It’s lifted my mood and my dad’s and my sister’s moods.

“We are getting stuck into this project and it’s given us something positive to remember Kristie by.”

PCP founder Perry Clayman has agreed to officially open the cafe, which will be aimed at younger customers with a menu offering sandwiches, paninis, burgers, chips and salads.

There will also be specials, including some of Kristie’s favourite dishes such as sausages and cheese and potato pie.

Jolli also owns and runs Gracies sandwich bar and Miss B’s tea rooms in Melton and she’s hoping Kristie’s will be just as popular.

Dominique said: “My sister wants Kristie’s to be an upbeat sort of place - it’s not going to be morbid - and we hope young people will love it.”

Last October, we reported details of an inquest, which found that Kristie died on March 25 after being found collapsed at a house she had moved to in Luton, in Bedfordshire.

In February 2019, Kristie had spoken openly on The Jeremy Kyle Show on ITV1 about her challenges of living with her addiction and she admitted conning people out of cash in the street to pay for her heroin and crack cocaine addiction.

Kristie, looked gaunt and hollow-cheeked, in earlier footage taken at her flat but when she appeared on the programme she had gained weight and looked much healthier, having started to deal with her addiction.

Dominique said: “There was quite a lot of negativity on Facebook about Kristie but then when she died there was a lot of people being very positive and saying that she was always a very nice person and very polite and friendly.

“It was just her addiction took over. She funded her drugs by other means as many do.”

The new eaterie is aimed at being a legacy for the person her family believe Kristie really was, as well as a fundraiser for an organisation they are very grateful to.

“We are a close family and Kristie was very deeply loved,” added Dominique.

“We couldn’t save her but if she hadn’t have got the help she got from Perry and PCP we wouldn’t have had the amount of time we had with her.

“We had another 18 months with her and those 18 months were just great.

“They were just fantastic. We had her back in our lives and it was wonderful.

“That’s what we are trying to keep reminding ourselves that a lot of people, a lot of families, don’t have that with loved ones who suffer from addictions. Within that time she made so many friends.”