A teenager accused of killing a 13-year-old girl by supplying her with ecstasy today walked free from court.
Callum Owens, 19, was on trial at the High Court in Glasgow, where he denied the culpable homicide of Grace Handling at his home in Irvine, on June 28, 2018.
A jury today found the case against Owens not proven.
Lord Matthews told him: “The jury has acquitted you of the charge against you. I can now discharge you from the dock.”
The trial heard this week that Grace died after telling a friend she had taken three blue pills on the last day of school before the summer break.
The jury heard Owens describe how he left the schoolgirl unconscious on the floor after she had taken the drug, without calling an ambulance or her parents.
Owens said they both took the drug from a pack of about nine pills he had and then fell asleep.
But when he woke up in the morning she was “cold to touch” and had stopped breathing.
He told how he tried to perform CPR before fleeing his home and throwing away the remaining tablets.
He later told a friend in a Facebook message: “I’m going, probably never coming back,” adding: “Killed a c*** man.”
Grace’s body was found later that day.
Owens was interviewed by police the following day, when he admitted giving the schoolgirl ecstasy.
The jury retired to consider their verdict on Thursday afternoon.
