‘Slap on the wrists’ for drug dealers over ecstasy that killed girl aged 15
THE devastated mother of a schoolgirl who died after taking ecstasy at a party has slammed the legal system after the drug dealers avoided jail.
Sherie-Lea James, 15, collapsed and died after taking several of a deadly batch of pills, which included a type called ‘death con’.
Jason Raymond, 21, and Reamell Sharon, 31, admitted charges including supplying a controlled substance but were handed suspended sentences.
Sherie-Lea’s mother Samantha said after the hearing: ‘It went completely the opposite way to what I expected.
‘I did not expect long prison sentences but I expected to see them go to jail, at least to send a message.
‘If you go to house parties and supply them with drugs, you will go to prison – that should have been the message.
‘Not that you can go to house parties, supply the party with drugs, and even in tragic circumstances be let off with a slap on the wrists.’
Mrs James has previously spoken out to highlight the risks of drugs by saying how her daughter, who was given a second chance at life after receiving a liver transplant as a toddler, had ‘stupidly’ thrown the opportunity away. Sherie-Lea was with a 15-year-old friend when they went to an older man’s flat in South Ockendon, Essex, on August 31, 2016.
Both took pills and were taken to hospital after falling ill. The other girl survived but Sherie-Lea, of Basildon, went into cardiac arrest and died.
Basildon Crown Court heard how Raymond, of South Ockendon, had brought 15 pills to the party and sold them for £10 each. Guy Ladenburg, defending, said his client did not know how many pills he sold but
‘My heart was broken’
there was ‘no commercial gain’ on the night.
Mark Fraser, representing Sharon, of Manor Park, East London, said his involvement was limited to buying tablets that he handed to Sherie-Lea.
Both admitted possession with intent to supply MDMA and supplying the drug at previous hearings.
Judge John Lodge gave Raymond a 20-month sentence, suspended for 18 months. He told him: ‘You were the provider of drugs to the party.
‘I accept on the totality of evidence that was not done for commercial gain.’ Turning to Sharon, whose 12-month term was suspended for the same period, he added: ‘Your role is one step down.
‘You supplied drugs on the basis of going to the co-accused and purchasing for them drugs that they took.’
Sherie-Lea was found to have a liver tumour when she was 20 months old and spent two years in hospital fighting for her life.
In July 2002, the RAF was called in to fly a replacement liver hundreds of miles to her from Spain after it was donated by the family of a child who died shortly after birth.
Fourteen years later the schoolgirl, who was studying for her GCSEs, had just come back from a family holiday in Cornwall when she went out with her friend to the party where she lost her life.
Mrs James, a 45- year- old carer who has three older sons, added: ‘My heart was broken into a thousand pieces that day and it still is.
‘She was my best friend, the daughter that I always wanted, and I won’t have that again, which is constantly upsetting.’
Raymond and Sharon were also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and take part in rehabilitation schemes.