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Galbraith has been jailed for 14 years.
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PA
A drug dealer who caused the death of a seven-year-old boy in an explosion while making cannabis gummy sweets has been jailed for 14 years.
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Reece Galbraith and his friend Jason “Jay” Laws were using a Newcastle flat as a drugs lab when a blast ripped through the building in the early hours of October 16.
The explosion killed Laws and seven-year-old Archie York, who was asleep in the flat above.
The former construction worker was seriously injured in the explosion.
Six properties in total were damaged in the explosion, which resulted in a massive emergency response.
Emergency services at the scene at Violet Close in Benwell, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Reece Galbraith, 33, has been jailed for 14 years at Newcastle Crown Court for manslaughter.
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Alamy
Archie, 7, was in bed asleep when the cannabis lab burst into flames and ripped through his mum and dad’s home.
Reading her impact statement, Archie’s heartbroken mother, Katherine Errington, shouted “you killed my son” at Galbraith in court.
Crying, she told the defendant: “You brought gas canisters into a building where families lived.
“You ran a drugs operation under the floor where my children slept.
“You took risks for profit and didn’t care who got hurt. You killed my son.”
Archie York.
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PA
During Galbraith’s trial, the court heard the explosion destroyed six out of the 12 flats in the block and was followed by a “fierce fire” that caused so much damage the whole block has since been demolished.
Police investigating the explosion discovered that the flat operated by Galbraith and Laws was used as a “drugs lab” to produce cannabis concentrates, known as “shatter” or “butane honey oil”, in a highly dangerous process.
The product was then turned into cannabis edibles, also known as “gummies”.
Ms Errington said she was “furious” when she was informed within a week of Archie’s death that shatter was being made in the flat below.
Cannabis sweets produced in the dangerous process which Reece Galbraith used, causing a huge explosion.
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PA
Prosecutor David Brooke KC said Laws had been using the flat for months and there was “little purpose” for it other than the production of cannabis.
The court heard Galbraith, Laws’ partner in the “enterprise”, was found walking away from the street immediately after the explosion asking about his friend.
He suffered extensive burns and was in hospital for about a month, initially in an induced coma.
Brooke and Galbraith has been at the flat together since around 6pm the night before the explosion, and his fingerprints were found one of the butane bottles at the property.
Cannabis sweets were found in Law’s car, covered in Galbraith’s DNA.
The court heard Galbraith had texted his girlfriend at 11pm that night describing how he “got squirted in the eye” when he “tilted the gas”, saying it was like “dry ice”.
Prior to the devastating explosion, Galbraith was being investigated for being involved in the supply of cannabis, after police discovered a cannabis bush and scales in his car.
Police later found 250 cannabis sweets, moulds and 300g of a sweet mixture in his home.
He was then released as police continued their investigation.
Police also found evidence on his phone that he was dealing in cannabis and cannabis sweets “full-time” with Laws from at least as far back as November 2023.
In one message he told a customer “There’s guna be 4 flavours cherry/sour apple/strawberry/banana and making them tonight or tomorrow just prepping shit haha but should be just as strong as usual”.
Following the explosion, experts concluded the blast was caused by the ignition of liquid butane gas, which had been released and built up within the premises as part of the illegal “shatter” production.
Equipment was found in the rubble.
Picture:
PA
More than 100 butane canisters were found in the flat, Mr Brooke said, as well as other “sophisticated and expensive” equipment”.
The prosecutor said: “The process of making shatter is inherently dangerous because butane is highly flammable.
“It is a process that has to be done with the utmost care to avoid an explosion.
“When the liquid butane gas escapes, the odourless gas sinks towards the ground because it is heavier than air, and can accumulate in a confined space such as a flat.
“It is dangerous even to store butane bottles inside let alone use the liquid gas in a process like this. The liquid gas will expand a nominal 230 times as it becomes gas.
“Ignition makes the gas expand by a further factor of eight. The failure and ignition of a single bottle of butane would have been too much for the size of the living room in the property.”
“}]] A drug dealer who caused the death of a seven-year-old boy in an explosion while making cannabis gummy sweets has been jailed for 14 years. Read More
