Sentencing due in Morgan Huelin case this morning

Tuesday 10 May 2016

The five teenage boys convicted of perverting the course of justice over the death of 16-year-old Morgan Huelin will be sentenced by the Youth Court this morning for their crimes.

The five are expected to receive a community service order sentence, after Youth Court Chairman Bridget Shaw warned it was the likely outcome at the end of their five-day trial in March.

After evidence from paramedics, police officers, passers-by and two of the boys, the court found that the boys moved Morgan from the garage where he was found unconscious the morning after a party, to throw the police off their scent, and to keep them away from the house because of fears an investigation would reveal that one of them had used drugs.

The defence had argued that they moved Morgan not out of fear of the police, but because they didn’t want their parents to find out about the drug use.

The five – who cannot be named because of their age – all denied the charge they faced, and one of them denied further counts of possessing drugs and indecent images of children.

They were convicted on all counts.

Morgan died of respiratory failure brought on by drug use – a post mortem examination found he had morphine, codeine and a former “legal high” called Etizolam in his system. He had been found unconscious in the garage of one of the boys after a party the night before – when they found him, they carried him 160 yards down the street before two passers-by stopped them and called an ambulance.

Evidence from passers-by, paramedics and police officers heard by the court shows that the boys gave conflicting and evasive answers when questioned about what had gone on when asked on the morning of his death.

The defendants were originally arrested on suspicion of murder – all but one of them gave “no comment” answers when interviewed by the police in the hours and weeks after the incident.

Morgan had consumed drugs at a party at another house before coming back to a second home with the boys, and evidence was heard that he consumed more when he got back to the house.

One boy left early the following morning and checked on Morgan, who had slept in the garage while the other boys slept in a bedroom upstairs. When he was checked at around 6 am, Morgan appeared to be sleeping normally.

When the other boys woke up at around 9.15 am he had drifted into unconsciousness – there were conflicting reports as to whether there was foam coming out of his mouth and nose.