A genuine tragedy; not only has the girl lost her life; people who weren’t gangsters or big time dealers have lost their freedom. Although 3 years may not seem like much, the sentence often carries on after the cell door is opened; there is always the risk of reprisals from the victims family and its very difficult to get a job once you’ve been inside and have got a record for drugs…
Man jailed over girl’s drug death
A man who sold 10 ecstasy tablets to a Plymouth teenager who died of an overdose after taking them has been jailed for three-and-a-half years. Lisa Gardner, 17, died early on New Year’s Day at a friend’s house, Plymouth Crown Court heard.Gregory Stevens, 31, of Thames Gardens, Plymouth, was sentenced after admitting selling Lisa the tablets for £20, the price he had paid himself.
In mitigation the court was told it was an “isolated act of stupidity”.
‘No profit’
Llewellyn Sellick, prosecuting, said the taxi driver who dropped Lisa off at Stevens’ home on the evening of December 31 described her as “upbeat and happy”.
But three-and-a-half hours later an ambulance was called and paramedics found her lying in the hall in cardiac arrest, he said.
Stevens’ wife Emma, 24, initially told police she had dropped Lisa off in Plymouth’s Union Street clubland area at about 2200 GMT on New Year’s Eve.
But on 3 January her brother David Travers, 19, of Manston Close, Plymouth, called detectives to say he had supplied the ecstasy to Lisa, his ex-girlfriend.
Officers arrested all three, but in interview they admitted the story was untrue.
Travers said he had been trying to save Gregory Stevens from prison.
Emma Stevens, who admitted two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice, was given a two-year community rehabilitation order.
Dressed in black, she wept as her husband was sentenced.
Travers pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice and was sentenced to six months in a young offenders’ institution.
Nick Lewin, mitigating for Gregory Stevens, said: “The only benefit there was for him was he received payment on the amount he paid in the first place for the drugs.
“There was no profit on his part.”
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/devon/4607807.stmPublished: 2005/06/03 16:53:27 GMT
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