Carson Price: Teenager admits supplying drugs to boy who later died

Carson Price died in April 2019

A 15-year-old boy has admitted supplying a Class A drug following the death of 13-year-old Carson Price.

Carson, from Hengoed, died after being found unconscious in a park in Ystrad Mynach, near Caerphilly, in April 2019 having taken an ecstasy tablet.

The boy, who cannot be named, appeared at Cwmbran Youth Court on Tuesday. He will be sentenced on 18 August.

An inquest last April heard Carson died from a "violent reaction" to the drugs.

Carson's mother Tatum Price said she was pleased at the guilty plea, as "I feel he has accepted what he has done".

"I'm hoping that sentencing will reflect that it is not OK to sell drugs and also highlight the dangers of Snapchat making the sale of drugs too accessible."

The youth court heard that a friend of Carson's told police that Carson had contacted a male via Snapchat and had made arrangements to buy some pills.

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He went to meet the person at a local garage and returned 10 minutes later.

Margaret Cunningham, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the court that Carson offered one tablet to a friend, who declined.

She said Carson then took one and a half tablets himself, later taking another one and a half, before he "started acting strangely".

The incident happened in April 2019

The court heard the defendant, who was aged 14 at the time of the incident, was interviewed by police and admitted he sold the drugs to Carson and said he was dealing on behalf of a man who he was scared of.

"But at the conclusion of interview, he changed his story again," Ms Cunningham told the court, "and said that male wasn't involved and then gave the name of another male who had sold him the pills."

The court heard there was also evidence from text messages that the defendant continued to try to get hold of drugs to sell in the days after Carson's death.

He had also since been dealt with by a youth court for possessing a blade, which he claimed to have carried for his own protection and to "intimidate people".

'Shocking situation'

District Judge Martin Brown ordered a pre-sentence report to be drawn up before sentencing and adjourned the hearing until 18 August.

He said it was "a shocking situation" for a 14-year-old to be selling class A drugs."It will not be something that the family of the deceased will recover from easily, if at all," he said.

"I want to know more about you. I want to know more about your reaction to this.

"What I want to know is if you have learned from this experience. It is troubling.

"Even after this situation had become grave, it seems you were still attempting to source tablets for sale."

He added: "Drugs and blade, blade and drugs, is not a good start to a young man's life."

A 22-year-old man, from Caerphilly, who was arrested on suspicion of the supply of class A drugs, has been released under police investigation.