Five teens to hear Morgan Huelin case verdict at 11 am

Thursday 24 March 2016

The five teenagers standing trial for perverting the course of justice over the death of 16-year-old Morgan Huelin last July will find out this morning if they have been found guilty or not guilty.

After five days of evidence last week, including evidence from passers-by, a police officer and a paramedic as well as two of the young defendants, the Youth Court has been considering its verdict for the last two days.

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

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.

The case hinges on whether, as they defendants say, they moved him to avoid getting into trouble with their parents, or whether, as the prosecution say, they moved him to avoid getting into trouble with the police.

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.

A full update on the verdict will be posted here.