Man escapes jail after girl's ecstasy death in Bognor

5:32pm Monday 14th January 2008

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A man who admitted supplying Ecstasy pills that killed a schoolgirl he was supposed to be looking after has escaped a jail sentence.

Trudy Williams, 15, collapsed and died after being given the drugs while in the care of Mike Gold, 47, and Kirsty Netherwell, 22.

An inquest into the death heard that Trudy had taken more than one pill.

Chichester Crown Court heard that Gold, who cannot read or write, did not buy the drugs which killed Trudy.

But he admitted supplying them to her.

Sentencing Gold at Chichester Crown Court, Judge Anthony Thorpe said he had suspended the 12-month jail term to allow for Gold's mental inabilities.

He was given a sentence of 12 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, and required to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard that Trudy had spent the evening drinking at Netherwell's flat in Albert Road, Bognor, on the night she died - August 24, 2006.

Judge Thorpe told the court that evidence had been given alleging Trudy was "no stranger" to drugs and had taken cannabis, cocaine and speed.

During the party at Netherwell's, who was a trusted family friend, Trudy downed the pills handed to her by Gold and Netherwell.

She told partygoers she was going outside for a walk, but was later found slumped dead in the stairwell of the flats.

Trudy often visited the Bognor area from her family home in Southampton.

After Gold, of Millington Drive, Selsey, and Netherwell admitted supplying the pills that killed schoolgirl Trudy at a hearing last year, her mother, Michelle O'Conner, 34, from Southampton, said: "They have destroyed her life and they have destroyed our lives. It's just beyond belief.

"I will never know why a 47-year-old man would want to give my teenage daughter a pill.

"I have never known hate like I know it now for those two. I will never forgive them for what they've done.

"What really hurts me is that they were supposed to be looking after her and that's exactly what they failed to do."

Summing up, Judge Thorpe said: "I wonder if you have any concept of what might happen after you supplied the drugs to those present in the flat that night."

Netherwell was given a community order with supervision for two years, plus 250 hours unpaid work during sentencing at Chichester Crown Court on December 17.