Snapchat drug dealer who killed teenager has sentence cut

A teenage drug dealer who killed a 14-year-old schoolgirl after supplying her with potentially lethal ecstasy has had his jail sentence cut by appeal judges.

James McCairn, 19, sold the Class A drug to Cerys Reeve who died after taking it during a sleepover in Greenock, Inverclyde, in July 2020.

McCairn was convicted last year of culpable homicide by recklessly and unlawfully supplying the drug to Cerys.

His sentence has now been cut from seven years’ detention to five.

McCairn was also previously found guilty of being concerned in the supply of ecstasy between 1 November 2019 and 13 July 2020, including to 14-year-old girls.

Following the conviction at the High Court in Glasgow, McCairn was sentenced to seven years’ detention.

Lawyers acting for McCairn challenged that sentence and claimed it was excessive.

As a result judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh overturned the original sentence and replaced it with a shorter term.

The first offender, of Greenock, was a 16-year-old when he began using social media to advertise the availability of drugs for sale through Snapchat.

Fred Mackintosh KC, for McCairn, told Lord Woolman, sitting with Lord Matthews, that the sentencing judge had made mistakes in assessing the culpability of the teenager.

He said the sentencing process for a young offender had to take into account rehabilitation and an assessment of his maturity.

Mr Mackintosh told the appeal judges: “He has not really appreciated the fact that this young man was in a sense supplying for someone else as a subcontractor.

“How is a 16-year-old going to be in a position to supply over a period of eight months unless someone is supplying to him?”

Mr Mackintosh argued that seven years was “a very large sentence” for someone of his age.

He added the sentence would have “a significant effect” on McCairn’s prospects for rehabilitation as he would be institutionalised at the end of the period in custody.

The KC called for the original sentence to be quashed and replaced with a shorter period of detention.

Lord Woolman said the “terrible tragedy” of Cerys’ death underscored the dangers posed by Class A drugs.

The senior judge said that McCairn was not involved in “social supply” of drugs but rather a relatively sophisticated supply operation.

He said McCain was only 16 at the time of the offences and had a difficult and troubled upbringing.

Lord Woolman added that McCairn was remorseful and had experienced mental health difficulties in custody.

McCairn’s trial previously heard he had been advertising pills for sale on the morning of 13 July 2020.

Cerys, who had been due to start fourth year in her home town of Port Glasgow, had been at a friend’s house before going to McCairn’s to purchase MDMA.

She returned and mixed the powder into a cup of juice before taking it.

When her friend came back into the room after making a toastie, Cerys was described as “acting really weird”.

This initially included her not being able to control her arms and kicking items off a window ledge.

The witness went on to describe Cerys as grunting, sweating and falling off the bed, which woke the girl’s mother.

She then started burning up and suffered a seizure.

A 999 call was immediately made and the teenager was taken to Inverclyde Royal Hospital.

Cerys was described as “rigid all over” and put on a ventilator.

But the talented dancer never recovered and was pronounced dead at 08:08.

The cause of death was “MDMA toxicity”.

In his closing speech to the jury, prosecutor Graeme Jessop said: “McCairn just did not care about Cerys’s age or vulnerability.

“All he cared about at the time was selling his drugs for profit regardless of the circumstances.”