A drug dealer who caused the death of a seven-year-old boy in an explosion has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.
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 Archie York, who was asleep in the flat above.
Galbraith, of Rectory Road, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, admitted two counts of manslaughter as well as possessing and supplying cannabis, at a hearing in April.
He was sentenced on Wednesday at Newcastle Crown Court.
Archie’s mother, Katherine Errington, shouted “you killed my son” at Galbraith as she read her victim impact statement in court.
She sobbed as 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.”
The blast, on Violet Close, Benwell, wrecked the street and made families homeless.
The court heard it destroyed six out of the 12 flats in the block and was followed by a “fierce fire” which caused so much damage the whole block has since had to be 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”, 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 family home.
Ms Errington was pulled out of the rubble by Mr York, who also found Archie’s seven-week-old brother Finley, covered in dust but “astonishingly unharmed”, in the wreckage.
But Mr York could not find Archie, and they were told later that he had died.
Ms Errington said she was “furious” when she was told within a week of Archie’s death that shatter was being made in the flat below.
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 and asking about his friend.
He suffered extensive burns and was in hospital for about a month, initially in an induced coma.
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.
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.
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 pieces of “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.”
The court heard the blast had had “an enormous impact locally” and that 10 households had to be permanently rehoused.
More than 100 people were displaced to temporary accommodation and 53 of the 80 residents will not return.
The financial impact of the blast is said to have been about £3.7m.
