Girl, 14, killed by ecstasy pill she was sold over Snapchat

A GIRL of 14 died after taking ecstasy she bought from a teenage dealer on the messaging app Snapchat, a court heard yesterday.

Bethany Devlin-McCrone collapsed in her bedroom two hours after taking a single tablet and downing powdered ecstasy.

Her mother, Angela DevlinMcCrone, 33, slammed social media sites for exposing her only daughter to drugs as the dealer who sold the ecstasy was jailed for four years.

In a victim impact statement, Mrs Devlin- McCrone said: ‘ Nobody forced Bethany to do what she did on that night. However, like any 14year-old she wanted to fit in with her friends. The person being sentenced has ruined our lives. They used social media to target young people who are easily led.

‘Without this pressure or social media, I doubt Bethany would have been exposed to them or had the chance to do what she did.’

The schoolgirl contacted Connor Parrish, 19, via Snapchat on July 24 last year, Liverpool Crown Court heard. She gave another friend £30 for two ecstasy tablets and two bags of MDMA – powdered ecstasy – and persuaded him to meet Parrish to pick them up.

Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, said Bethany wanted the drugs for herself and another 14-year-old girl, who was on a sleepover at her home, in Greasby, Wirral.

They each took a pill, as well as drinking the powdered ecstasy, which they mixed in a bottle of Lucozade, at 11.15pm. Soon afterwards, Drugs: Bethany Devlin-McCrone the court heard, Bethany’s behaviour became erratic. Mr Hopkins said: ‘[She was] screaming at the wall and punching it and screaming at herself in front of a mirror.

‘She then lay on the floor, it was now about 1.15am, and her friend tried to rouse her but she was unresponsive. She performed CPR and had to call her mother for help.’

Parrish, who admitted four drug charges, was arrested at his home in Tranmere the following day.

Judge Neil Flewitt QC told him: ‘You used Snapchat as a marketing tool for your operation and that led to it going beyond your small group of acquaintances to a wider range of customers. As a result of taking drugs that originated from you, Bethany tragically died. There is a direct link between her death and the drugs that you supplied.’

John Weate, defending, said Parrish – who sobbed throughout yesterday’s hearing – had written to Bethany’s parents ‘ expressing his sorrow for the position they are in through his actions’.