REPUGNANT
Judge slams thugs who gave ecstasy to schoolgirl found dead in their car ...but tells jury to clear them of manslaughter
TWO MEN who supplied ecstasy to a schoolgirl found dead in the back of their car were cleared of manslaughter yesterday.
A judge said that ‘however morally repugnant’ it was that they had not tried to help her, it could not be proved that their actions caused her death.
Jason Burder, 29, and Adam King, 28, pleaded guilty to giving 16-year-old Megan Bannister MDMA after they spent the night drinking together. Her body was found hidden under coats in Burder’s Vauxhall Astra after a crash the next day.
The men’s trial heard she had been strangled and had large amounts of the Class A drug in her system.
A pathologist later concluded she had not died in the crash but could not confirm the exact cause of death, saying it was either ecstasy overdose, manual strangulation or a combination.
Yesterday, the judge instructed jurors to acquit them of gross negligence manslaughter.
Mrs Justice Jefford said it was not clear exactly what had happened and there was no evidence on which a jury could be sure that failing to seek help for Megan – however ‘morally repugnant’ – had caused her death.
The judge added: ‘It is a sad fact of this case that it will never be known exactly what happened and whether the decision of the defendants to put her in the car and take her away caused or contributed to her death.’
Birmingham Crown Court heard that Megan, who wanted to become a midwife, had been drinking with Burder, who told her he was younger. They then went to pick up King, who had been drinking elsewhere, before going to Burder’s house.
It was alleged the men spiked her drink with the drug and when she became unwell, Burder took a humiliating Snapchat video in which she could be seen ‘fitting’. Then, instead of seeking help, the men put her in the back of a car and drove round for almost four hours, the jurors were told.
They even stopped to buy cigarettes and beer and searched the internet for prostitutes, the court heard. At about 11.45am on May 14, Burder performed a U-turn and hit a motorbike near Enderby, Leicestershire, and passersby found Megan’s body in the back seat.
One of Burder’s ex-girlfriends, Eleanor Wilson, 29, said he was aggressive when on drugs while another woman alleged he once spiked her drink. A statement read out in court on behalf of Megan’s family described their heartbreak at losing their ‘beautiful, talented and loving daughter’. Her father Tony, 54, said: ‘She was the heart of our family. The thought of life without Megan is impossible to imagine. I can’t express in words our numbness and grief.’
After his manslaughter acquittal, Burder pleaded guilty to supplying MDMA to Megan on May 14, possessing MDMA, and careless driving. King admitted being concerned in the supply of MDMA. The men, from Leicester, will be sentenced today.