Mother, 53, died after taking £20 weight-loss jab from beauty salon,
The daughters of a woman who died after taking a black market weight-loss injection have begged others not to use fake ‘skinny jabs’.
Karen McGonigal, 53, from Salford in Greater Manchester, was illegally administered the unlicensed drug in May.
In the months before her death, Ms McGonigal had been struggling with her mental health and was ‘desperate’ to lose weight so she could ‘get her confidence back’ following the end of a long-term relationship.
Friends told her she would be able to buy medication at a local salon, leading Ms McGonigal to get in touch with a beautician offering the jabs at £20 each.
The mother visited the beauty centre several times for what she was informed were Mounjaro injections – though the reality was much different.
Ms McGonigal’s youngest daughter, Ffion, told ITV News the beautician had paused doing a woman’s nails so she could take her mother into a back room.
The 53-year-old was then injected with a syringe.
Ffion, 25, said: ‘No preparation, no cleaning, nothing. She’d give it to my mum, my mum would pay her, and she’d be out in three minutes.’
Ms McGonigal started to lose weight but four days after her last injection she suddenly became unwell – in ‘agony’ with extreme stomach pains and struggling to breathe.
Ffion later called an ambulance after seeing her mother’s face turn ‘purple’ but tragically, the next time they saw each other Ms McGonigal would not wake.
Ms McGonigal’s three daughters were told there was nothing more doctors could do after two days in intensive care and her life support was turned off.
Her daughter, Abbie, said: ‘We were around her, kissing and hugging her. We were singing.
‘All her friends were there… they all got to say their last goodbyes.’
Ffion, who had still been living with her mother, had recently discovered she was pregnant with her first child.
‘I’m devastated and heartbroken that she’s not here to meet my baby’, she told ITV News.
Ms McGonigal’s daughters described her as ‘kind’ and loving’ with the ‘biggest heart’.
The family has now been told Ms McGonigal was never injected with tirzepatide – a drug known by the brand name Mounjaro – but was instead administered semaglutide.
It is understood that Greater Manchester Police have arrested one person on suspicion of manslaughter and another on suspicion of supplying a controlled substance.
Abbie said she believed more should be done to stop those who are administering the jabs.
She explained: ‘There’s so many people doing it, there’s so many people selling it, these people are getting away with destroying people’s lives.’
Ffion said she would ‘beg on hands knees’ for others not to go ahead with the injections.
Abbie added she and her sister would ‘feel they’ve done another’ if their plea saved just one person.
Addressing anyone who was considering taking the ‘cheaper option’, she warned: ‘The outcome is devastating. It’s heartbreaking and it’s really, really not worth it.’
Andy Morling, MHRA Deputy Director of Criminal Enforcement, said: ‘My thoughts are with Karen McGonigal’s family following her tragic death.
‘Where breaches of the law are identified in the UK, we will not hesitate to use the full range of our enforcement powers to protect public health, including, where appropriate, prosecuting those who put people at risk.’
Health Secretary Wes Streeting promised to ‘take every action we can to clamp down on the availability of these sorts of drugs on the black market’, adding the government and public must ‘learn from this absolutely shocking case’.
