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Josh Reeson, 15, died from complications caused by taking Ecstasy in November 2020, York Crown Court heard.
Chris Moran, prosecuting, said within hours police investigations into his death uncovered the gang’s production of edibles using THC, the active part of cannabis, and the Tang Hall house where other drugs including Ecstasy and cocaine were stored.
Drug dealer Alexander Payne (Image: North Yorkshire Police)
Among those arrested at the house was Alexander Leonard Payne, then aged 16, who continued to deal in drugs when released on bail. He was caught two months later near the University of York with Ecstasy tablets ready for sale and was dealing in LSD and cannabis in 2021.
In October 2022, he was caught on the A64 eastbound carriageway with cocaine worth up to £20,800 if sold on the streets, £925 in cash in a hidden compartment and a cannabis dealer in the front passenger seat who was sentenced earlier this year.
Payne was jailed for four and a half years.
Alongside him in the dock was Jay Connor Baxter, then 18, who made cannabis edibles in the Tang Hall house run by fellow gang member and mother-of-six Sian Roe.
A third teenager, Joseph Gilchrist, then 17 and now 22, was jailed in January this year for deliberately obstructing the police investigation.
Judge Simon Hickey said: “As I say to anyone dealing with Class A drugs, and this case is an example of this, Class A drugs cause degradation, misery and death. In this case there was a death.”
Josh and two other teenagers aged 14 were admitted to York Hospital on September 27, 2020, all suffering from drug overdoses. The other two survived.
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As Josh’s family watched from the public gallery, Mr Moran said the police investigation started when hospital staff called them in on September 27, 2020.
Payne, now 20, formerly of Wheldrake and then of Overdale Road, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to conspiracies to supply Ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis in connection with Josh’s death; possession of LSD and cannabis with intent to supply them to others and possession of ketamine in 2021, and possession with intent to supply cocaine in October 2022.
For Payne, Ayman Khokhar said he had had a difficult upbringing and had started taking cocaine in his early teens. He had gone into drug dealing “with his eyes wide open” and had done so to fund his own addiction.
He had found the body of his brother, Edward Payne, who the court had heard was implicated in the 2020 offences, after he had killed himself. Since his arrest in 2022, he had not offended and had tackled his drug habit.
“He is (now) behaving in a way that signifies he has learnt his lesson,” said Mr Khokhar. “He has taken action since October 2022 to put his teenage offending behind him.”
Payne wanted to take a degree in social work and use his life experience to put something back into the community.
Baxter, now 22, of Lime Tree Avenue, New Earswick, and Roe, now 38, of Tang Hall, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce THC on the day of their trial. Both were given 18-month community orders. Baxter must do 100 hours’ unpaid work and 25 days’ rehabilitative activities and Roe 80 hours’ unpaid work.
For Baxter, Rukhsanda Hussain said his involvement had been limited to production of the edibles and he had had no idea of the scale of the operation. It was his first offence and he had not offended after 2021, when he had been convicted of possessing cannabis. He had been using cannabis to help him cope with a trauma he had suffered some years earlier.
In 2024, he ran his own business and was financially independent.
For Roe, Laura Addy said she knew cannabis edibles were being made in her house but didn’t know they were being sold. She thought they had been given to friends.
She had a very busy, complicated life because of the number of children living with her. The stress of the investigation and court case had led to her health being permanently affected.
“}]] The young man at the heart of a teenage drug gang linked to the death of a York 15-year-old boy has been jailed. Read More
