Man who killed child in blast while making cannabis gummies jailed for 14 years

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.

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 last month.

On Wednesday he was jailed for 14 years 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 in 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” 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”.

Archie was asleep on the sofa with his father when the blast ripped through the home he shared with his parents Katherine Errington and Robbie York, and his baby 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”, 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 informed 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 asking about his friend.

He suffered extensive burns and was in hospital for about a month, initially in an induced coma.

Mr Brooke said Galbraith had been at the flat since about 6pm the previous evening 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’ car which had both Law’s and Galbraith’s DNA on some of the packets.

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”.

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 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.

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”.

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 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.”

The court heard the blast had had “an enormous impact locally” and 10 households had to be permanently rehoused.

More than 100 people were displaced to temporary accommodation and 53 of the 80 residents will not be returning.

The financial impact is said to be about £3.7 million.

Richard Wright KC, mitigating for Galbraith, said: “This is not a case in which Reece Galbraith, whatever else he’s done and how deplorable his conduct has been, set out to cause harm to any person, let alone to cause harm to Archie or to kill anybody.

“He is genuinely sorry for his role and the consequences of his actions.”

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 went on to say: “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.”

Published: 14/05/2025 by Radio NewsHubClick here to read this story in full at Radio News Hub