Rachel Jayne Whitear[5] (6 February 1979 – 10 May 2000) was a young woman from Withington, Herefordshire, who died of a heroin overdose in Exmouth, Devon, in May 2000 at the age of 21.

[8] Her death and the publication of official police photographs of her body also led to a nationwide anti-drug campaign in Britain involving on a 22-minute documentary titled Rachel's Story which focuses upon her life, her potential, her struggles with heroin addiction, and ultimate overdose.

[7] As an adolescent, Whitear devoted much of her time to raising money for charitable causes by participating in sponsored activities such as walking and swimming.

According to a friend named Polly North, Whitear first began smoking cannabis, before progressing to occasionally taking ecstasy, largely as a means of garnering acceptance and popularity from her peers.

[13] Nonetheless, her occasional teenage recreational drug use did not affect her studies, and her parents were initially unaware of her use of narcotics.

[7][n 1] Several months later, the father of a friend of Fitzgerald's held a confidential talk with Whitear's parents in which he informed them their daughter had confided in him she was "using heroin".

Shortly thereafter, in late 1999, Whitear informed her parents she and Fitzgerald were moving from Withington to Exmouth, where they had secured a rented flat in Lyndhurst Road.

Shortly thereafter, her parents returned home one evening to discover Whitear lying unresponsive on her bed; briefly unconscious from an injection of heroin.

[18] She is believed to have died while in the company of Fitzgerald, who would confess years later to having given Whitear the fatal dosage of heroin, and to have attempted to "clean up the scene" after she had overdosed on the drug.

[18] In one of the final letters she is known to have penned to a friend in early 2000, she confided her struggles, stating: "I need to stop taking heroin, but it is hard.

[22] The initial police investigation into Whitear's death was criticised for their failure to observe correct procedures, and the conclusions of the investigation—which had ruled out any form of foul play—were questioned.

[23] A toxicology report upon Whitear's body revealed that the level of heroin in her bloodstream was 0.05 micrograms per millilitre; approximately one third of the 0.15 μg/ml generally considered to be a fatal dosage.

[13] This second inquest was unable to rule whether Whitear had administered the fatal injection of heroin herself, and returned an open verdict.

Reacting to this official verdict, Whitear's parents stated: "We will never know who administered that final dose and whether Rachel was alone when she died.

[31] The images and interviews within Rachel's Story illustrate the life of a normal, content and promising everyday girl, her struggles with her addiction, and the effect her drug usage had upon herself and her family.