A MOTHER has backed calls for alcohol to carry health warnings after her son drank himself to death at 24.

Craig Evans was taken to his local pub by his mother for his first pint - and went into terminal decline from that moment.

The once-promising student became a hopeless alcoholic, developing liver disease after drinking three litres of strong cider every day.

Mr Evans, from Throckley, near Newcastle, lived at home with his parents and they were with him when he died at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital last Thursday.

They are backing a campaign by Newcastle liver specialist Dr Christopher Record, who wants alcohol bottles to carry cigarette-style health risk warnings

Using her son as a warning, Margaret Evans, 53, a telesales operator, begged other youngsters to stop drinking excessively before it was too late.

She said: "You can get a bottle of cider for about a £1, so I think having the warnings on bottles would be a good thing.

"It might make people think a bit more about what they are doing to themselves. These days, you see kids drinking from the age of 12. It's terrible."

Mrs Evans said she and her husband, Tom, 56, a painter and decorator, had tried everything they could think of to stop their only son from drinking, including booking him into a detox clinic. But he refused to go.

"We knew his liver was in a bad way and about a month ago his stomach started swelling up," she said.

"We tried to make him go into hospital but he cancelled the appointment, and things just got worse."