Moment cannabis lab explodes, killing seven-year-old boy
Archie York, who was asleep in a flat above, died after a makeshift laboratory set up to make marijuana gummy sweets exploded and ripped through the building in Newcastle upon Tyne.
On Wednesday, Katherine Errington, Archie's mother, confronted her son's killer at his sentencing hearing.
Reece Galbraith, 33, and his friend Jason Laws, 35, had been running a cannabis operation in the flat beneath Ms Errington's home on Violet Close, Benwell, when it exploded early on Oct 16.
Laws was also killed in the blast. Galbraith, from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, admitted two counts of manslaughter as well as possessing and supplying cannabis at a hearing last month.
At Newcastle Crown Court on Wednesday, Galbraith was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in the explosion which destroyed six out of the 12 flats in the apartment block.
Before he was jailed, Ms Errington delivered a victim impact statement in which she accused him of 'taking risks for profit' and 'not caring who got hurt'.
Speaking through tears, she addressed Galbraith directly, saying: 'You brought gas canisters into a building where families lived. You ran a drugs operation under the floor where my children slept.'
Shouting at him while sobbing, she continued: 'You killed my son.'
She said that Galbraith had not only taken her eldest son from her, but he had also stolen 'our peace, our safety, our home and our future'.
'We are not who we used to be. We are the parents of a child who was killed in his own home while he slept,' she said.
'Highly dangerous' process
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'.
Archie was asleep on the sofa with his father, Robbie York, when the blast ripped through the home he shared with his parents and his seven-week-old brother, Finley.
Ms Errington was pulled out of the rubble by Mr York, who also found seven-week-old Finley, covered in dust but 'astonishingly unharmed'.
Mr York could not find Archie and later had to identify him by dental records, and the pyjamas he was wearing when he died. The court heard Archie's dog, Chase, had also been killed in the blast.
Ms Errington said the force of the explosion was so severe that they were unable to bury Archie for nearly three months.
'We weren't allowed to see him, hold him or to kiss him goodbye,' she said, adding: 'It broke us in ways I didn't know were possible.'
Describing her son as a cheeky boy who was 'full of life and dreams', Ms Errington said that now 'all she had was memories'.
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.
Mr York said he felt 'nothing but anger' towards Galbraith and Laws, adding he had 'no sympathy' for the latter's death.
'They were making drugs whilst my family slept upstairs unaware of the danger that was below us,' Mr York said.
David Brooke KC, prosecuting, said Laws had been using the flat for months and there was 'little purpose' for it other than the production of cannabis.
Mr Brooke said Galbraith had been at the flat on the evening of the explosion and his fingerprint was found on one of the butane bottles at the property.
A bag containing packages of cannabis sweets was found in Laws's car. Both Laws's and Galbraith's DNA was on some of the packets.
Explosion caused by liquid butane gas
At the time of the explosion, Galbraith was already being investigated for being concerned in the supply of cannabis, after police stopped his car in April and found a cannabis bush, a set of scales and cannabis sweets.
Officers later found 250 cannabis sweets, moulds and 300g of a sweet mixture when they searched his house. He was released pending further investigation.
Experts found that the explosion 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.
More than 100 butane canisters were found in the flat, Mr Brooke said, as well as other 'sophisticated and expensive equipment'.
The court heard the blast had had 'an enormous impact locally' and 10 households had to be permanently rehoused.
Jailing Galbraith, the judge, Mr Justice Cotter, said: 'Archie York was just a seven-year-old with a wonderful and exciting life ahead of him. His parents have so movingly explained, their world was shattered on October 16 when their flat was blown apart and they woke up buried under the rubble, dazed, bleeding and terrified to realise their precious son had been lost.'
He added: 'Violet Close was a close-knit, multi-racial community with many families that was literally blown apart as a result of your illegal activities in their midst, regardless of the clear risks to others.
'You bear responsibility for all this loss and destruction.'
Speaking after the sentencing, Ms Errington pleaded with anyone involved in making 'shatter' to stop.
She said: 'It's a horrible process which has caused the death of my son. So, even if people are planning to do it, or are doing it now, you've got time to stop, you could save a life.'
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