Daniel Spargo-Mabbs death: Ryan Kirk cleared of drug supply

Daniel Spargo-Mabbs died after taking ecstasy at a rave in Hayes

A man has been found not guilty of supplying drugs following the death of a 16-year-old boy at a rave.

Daniel Spargo-Mabbs died after taking ecstasy at a rave in Hayes, west London, on 17 January.

Ryan Kirk, 21, from Beckenham, south London, was cleared of three counts of supplying class A and class B drugs.

Nicqueel Pitrora, 18, from Croydon, had earlier admitted being concerned in the supply of a class A drug on 17 January. He will be sentenced on 1 August.

During Mr Kirk's trial the jury at Isleworth Crown Court heard a group of boys received "three bags of white powder" after making a phone call. Mr Kirk was accused of delivering the drugs to the group.

Mr Kirk's defence counsel Roderick Jones said police had "missed" a formality at an identification parade, which meant officers were left with a "less than certain identification" of the suspect.

Following the verdict Supt Des Rock said Pitrora had been "very much responsible for co-ordinating the drugs deal" and there had been "overwhelming evidence against him".

He added: "This is of some comfort to Daniel's family but they are still grieving his untimely death.

"Pitrora has shown little remorse and has failed to understand the consequences of his actions and what part this played in Daniel's death."

In a statement, Daniel's parents Fiona and Tim Spargo-Mabbs said: "Daniel was an incredible boy, and an incredible son, who we loved with all our hearts, who made a very bad decision on 17 January.

Nicqueel Pitrora admitted to supplying a controlled class A drug

"Over the course of the next three days in January we had to watch him slowly die, as the drug he had taken caused everything inside him to stop functioning.

"As a family with a massive gaping hole now in our centre, we're slowly trying to rebuild our lives into whatever our 'new normal' will be but we've barely begun and have a long and very hard road ahead of us."