Dealer who killed boy, 7, in drug factory blast is jailed

A DRUG dealer who killed a boy of seven in an explosion while making cannabis gummy sweets at home has been jailed for 14 years.

- By Paul Jeeves Crime Editor

Reece Galbraith, 33, and his accomplice Jason Laws were using a Newcastle flat as a drugs lab when the blast ripped through the building in the early hours of October 16. Archie York, who was fast asleep in the flat above the den, died, as did Laws, 35.

Galbraith, of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, admitted two counts of manslaughter as well as possessing and supplying cannabis, at a hearing last month.

Yesterday he was jailed for 14 years at Newcastle Crown Court. Archie’s mother Katherine Errington screamed: “You killed my son” at Galbraith as she read an emotional victim impact statement to the court.

Sobbing, 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.