The boy is accused – along with four friends – of perverting the course of justice by deliberately moving the unresponsive teenager and dumping him by the side of the road so that police would not find a tablet of ecstasy, LSD and four indecent images. They deny the charge.
The defendant, who was the first to give evidence in the Youth Court trial, is the only one to face charges relating to the drugs and indecent images. Questioned by his own lawyer yesterday afternoon, the boy said that his actions had nothing to do with any fear of an investigation because the drugs were not his and he did not know how they got there.
He also said he had no idea how and why four indecent images were found on a USB stick that was plugged into his laptop. “I did not load them or view them,” he said.
The boy said his bedroom was often where his friends relaxed and played computer games, at times when he was not there. Also, his laptop and USB stick were often used by others, sometimes to access the ‘dark net.’ He admitted that he had used it to order ‘legal highs’ for Morgan, which were paid for using virtual bitcoins.
“Morgan was quite knowledgeable about drugs,” he said. “He always mentioned that he’d read up on it and he raised the idea of ordering legal highs. He would come around to my house and he would name something to try out of curiosity and we would order it at my house over the internet.
“I tried a few things but Morgan, for the most part, held on to them. We had been friends for about a year but from Christmas 2014 his drug use escalated and he seemed to be in a different mental state so I distanced myself from him.”
The defendant admitted to have ordered a ‘legal high’ called Etizolam, which is legal in the UK but a controlled drug in Jersey. He said he had ordered it for – and delivered to – Morgan and he didn’t know that it was illegal locally.
The defendant was then asked why his blood, when tested on 5 July last year, contained Etizolam. He replied that he had not taken the drug that night.
“I believe that Morgan had texted me earlier to say he had a gift for me. Looking back, it seems he would have given me something in the form of a drug. Morgan may have put it in a drink, which he gave to me. While I had distanced myself from him, we were not enemies and we still spoke to each other.”
The defendant gave further details about events on the night and morning leading up to the Morgan’s death. He said that his reaction on finding Morgan unresponsive at around 9 am on 5 July, was to move him, helped by his co-defendants, “to get him out of the view of my parents”. He and a co-defendant had tried to ring 999 because “it was the safest way of dealing with Morgan” but they could not get through to the emergency services.
The trial continues.