Girl, 14, left ‘rigid’ after taking ecstasy ‘recklessly’ handed by teenager

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Cerys Reeve, 14, was struggling to breathe and hot to the touch. James McCairn, 18, is on trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of “recklessly and unlawfully” giving the “potentially lethal” class A drug to the girl at his home.

The culpable homicide charge claims Cerys, to the danger of her health, safety and life, took the ecstasy at another address in the town.

The court heard from the first witness, who claimed she allowed Cerys, a friend of her 14-year-old daughter, to stay overnight.

The woman said she believed Cerys tried to speak to her daughter but the words were “caught in her throat”.

She said she was “fitting” and “rigid” before emergency crews arrived at her home and took her to Inverclyde Royal Hospital, where she arrived after 6am.

She was put on a ventilator but died after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was stopped at 8.08am on Jule 18, 2020.

The witness stated she let the pair watch television in the living room as she went to bed at midnight, and was then woken up by the sound of a thud at 5am.

As she went to investigate, the witness claimed, she saw Cerys lying on her back with her daughter on the other side of the bed.

Prosecutor Graeme Jessop asked if Cerys made any sounds and she replied: “Gargling sounds.”

He asked: “How was her body?”

The witness said: “She was sweating really bad and really hot to touch. I saw sweat on her neck and face.”

She added that Cerys’ eyes were “wide open” and that she was “trying to say words but they were stuck in her throat, struggling to talk”.

The woman said she was then told by her daughter Cerys had taken MDMA or ecstasy.

The witness, who called 999, said: “Cerys just looked like she was fitting constantly – her body was rigid.”

The woman claimed she was told by her daughter that she had not taken MDMA but when asked by police later that morning she admitted she had.

The witness also stated she was given a polythene bag which contained residue of white powder.

The court was read a joint minute of agreed evidence.

It was discovered Cerys had 3.3micrograms per litre of MDMA in her system.

A post mortem determined the cause of her death as MDMA toxicity.

McCairn faces a separate charge of supplying ecstasy to others at several locations in Greenock between November 2019 and August last year – including to Cerys and other teenage girls.

McCairn is further accused of being involved in the supply of cannabis and possession of cocaine.

He denies the charges at the High Court in Glasgow.

The trial before judge John McCormick continues.





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