'One drink of Limoncello killed my daughter... it could happen to anyone'

CAMPAIGNING MUM BLASTS 'INSULTING & DERISORY' PUNISHMENT FOR PEOPLE LINKED TO DEADLY FAKE ALCOHOL CRIMES IN TOURIST HOTSPOT

- By JAMES HOLT

Kirsty at work in her ceramics studio

(Above and below: Kirsty McGeehan, 39, was a ceramic artist and teacher)

KIRSTY McKie had been living out in Bali for eight years. Due to her fiance's work in the hospitality industry, she only ever purchased alcohol from reputable suppliers and knew about the risks of illegally produced drinks.

But after a night with her friend at home, the 38-year-old, originally from Stockport, died after unknowingly drinking contaminated alcohol and trying to sleep off what she thought was a hangover.

The former University of Manchester student had been drinking from what she thought was a bottle of the Italian lemon liquer limoncello.

She was laid to rest back in the UK in 2022, a month after she died.

But it took her family months to finally get the answers they needed, with pathologist reports later confirming that she died as a result of methanol poisoning.

Methanol is a lethal form of alcohol that can cause blindness and death and is primarily used as a solvent in paints and as fuel for engines.

Drinks should only ever contain the form of alcohol known as ethanol.

Four years on, Kirsty's mum Margaret is campaigning to raise vital awareness with the hope of saving lives.

This includes urging people not to drink spirits in certain countries, even if sealed and bought from shops, in case they are inadvertently laced.

She warned: "There is no way to know. It can happen to anybody."

More than 14,000 thousand deaths globally since 1998 are thought to have been linked to methanol poisoning.

In 2024, in Laos, six people, including British backpacker Simone White, a 28-year-old lawyer from London, died after drinking alcohol laced with methanol at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in the popular tourist town of Vang Vieng.