Reece Galbraith jailed for 14 years for Benwell cannabis lab explosion which killed boy, 7

A man who’s cannabis lab blew up and killed a man and seven-year-old boy in the explosion has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Reece Galbraith set up a drug lab in the flat in Benwell, Newcastle, creating cannabis concentrates and turning those products into edibles.

But the highly dangerous process of using butane gas to process the class B drug caused a major explosion which ripped through the building in the early hours of October 16.

The blast caused about £3.7million worth of damage when it wrecked the building, leaving families homeless and killing seven-year-old Archie York as he slept as well as Galbraith’s friend and collaborator Jason ‘Jay’ Laws, 35.

Six people were taken to hospital ‘with varying injuries’ after the blast, with several others evacuated from their homes. Two flats ‘suffered the main brunt of the explosion’ but four more were also badly affected by the explosion.

Archie lived in the flat above the cannabis factory with his parents Katherine Errington and Robbie York and his baby brother Finley.

He was asleep on the sofa with his dad when the blast ripped through the flat.

Katherine was pulled out of the rubble by Robbie, who also found seven-week-old Finley covered in dust but ‘astonishingly unharmed’ in the wreckage.

In a heartbreaking impact statement read at Newcastle crown court, Archie’s mum Katherine shouted ‘you killed my son’ at Galbraith, adding: ‘On October 16, 2024, my entire world was shattered.

‘Everything about that night was normal until it became the worst moment of my life.

‘I woke up terrified, my flat had been blow apart, I didn’t know where my children were or if they were alive.

‘When I came around all I could do was scream Robbie’s name and try to move the bricks.

‘I only managed to move one foot out of the rubble so Robbie could identify where I was.

‘This was your choice Reece Galbraith. You brought butane gas canisters into a building where families lived.

‘You ran a drug operation under the floor where my children slept. You killed my son. No sentence will ever bring our boy back.’

Speaking after Archie’s death, his mum said: ‘As a parent and as a mother you try your best to keep your children safe, and that was took out of my hands.

‘When they are in the house, that’s supposed to be the safest place.’

The couple paid tribute to their son, saying his ‘cheeky smile’ will ‘live on’ in his younger brother Finley.

 ‘Archie was not only our son but our best friend,’ they said.

‘He lit up every room he went in, whether that was with his cheeky smile he was known for or some of his cheeky words.

‘We are so broken as a family, but Archie will live on in his baby brother Finley who is the spitting image of him.

‘He might have been small but he had a heart of gold, everyone loved him.’

Galbraith, 33, was ‘lucky not to be killed’ in the blast. He was placed in a coma for a week and was in hospital for a month, and still doesn’t have full use of his arms due to the burns he received.

After initially pleading not guilty in January, he later admitted two counts of manslaughter, and to possessing and supplying cannabis, at a court hearing last month.

Police had stopped Galbraith’s car last April and found drugs in the vehicle. After searching his home they found moulds to make cannabis sweets, but he was released pending further investigation.

Northumbria Police launched a major inquiry after the devastating explosion, and after analysing his phone they found 80 messages related to the sale of cannabis sweets.

Police also found evidence that he was dealing in cannabis and cannabis sweets ‘full-time’ with Laws from at least November 2023.

There were 100 butane gas canisters found in the flat, and Galbraith’s fingerprints were found on drug processing equipment inside the destroyed flat.

Galbraith was using the gas to create cannabis concentrates, known as ‘shatter’ or ‘butane honey oil’, before turning them into ‘gummies’.

But this process is highly dangerous because butane is highly flammable.

Prosecutor David Brooke KC explained: ‘When the liquid butane gas escapes, the odourless gas sinks towards the ground because it is heavier than air, and can accumulate in a confined space such as a flat.

‘It is dangerous even to store butane bottles inside let alone use the liquid gas in a process like this. The liquid gas will expand a nominal 230 times as it becomes gas.

‘Ignition makes the gas expand by a further factor of eight. The failure and ignition of a single bottle of butane would have been too much for the size of the living room in the property.’

After the initial blast destroyed six out of 12 flats in the block, a ‘fierce fire’ spread through the rest of the building and caused so much damage the entire block has since been demolished.

Richard Wright KC, defending, told the court Galbraith did not set out to harm anyone, adding: ‘We acknowledge there will only be in this case a significant custodial sentence, it will be a custodial sentence that will punish him for what he has done.

‘He understands he killed Archie and Jason.

‘Whatever else he may be or whatever else he may have done, he is genuinely sorry for his role and the consequences of his actions, that is a genuinely held position.’

Jailing Galbraith, judge Mr Justice Cotter said: ‘Archie York was just a seven-year-old with a wonderful and exciting life ahead of him.

‘His parents have so movingly explained, their world was shattered on October 16 when their flat was blown apart and they woke up buried under the rubble, dazed, bleeding and terrified to realise their precious son had been lost.

‘Violet Close was a close-knit, multi-racial community with many families that was literally blown apart as a result of your illegal activities in their midst, regardless of the clear risks to others.

‘You bear responsibility for all this loss and destruction.’

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