MOTHER FORGIVES BOY WHO GAVE SON FATAL ECSTASY PILLS

THE mother of Britain's youngest ecstasy victim yesterday told the
14-year-old boy who gave her son the tablets that he should not blame
himself for the childish experiment that went wrong.

Phyllis Woodlock, 35, whose son, Andrew, died after taking three ecstasy
tablets, met the boy and his family outside a courtroom after he escaped a
custodial sentence.

"I wanted the boy to know I did not blame him," Mrs Woodlock said, as she
left the High Court in Edinburgh. "He was very emotional and upset, which is
natural.

"He came across the drugs by accident. You have to remember he is just a
child. I look at him and I look at Andrew. There was a group of friends
there that day. Nobody forced Andrew to take the tablets. I warned Andrew
umpteen times myself not to take drugs because nobody knows how the body
will react."

The accused boy, who cannot be named, admitted culpable homicide at an
earlier hearing. Yesterday his case was sent to the children's panel, which
will carry out supervision orders.

The boy, who was 13 at the time he gave Andrew the tablets, appeared with
Alexander MacFarlane, 23, of Watson Street, Motherwell, Lanarks, whose drug
hoard he had found.

MacFarlane, who admitted being concerned in the supply of ecstasy and
cannabis, was jailed for six years. The court was told that he was providing
a safe house for a cache of drugs, worth almost UKP30,000. The boy found it
and took a handful of tablets.

After the case, Mrs Woodlock, of New Stevenson, Lanarks, called for tougher
sentences for dealers. She thought that it was "ridiculous" that the boy was
charged with culpable homicide. "It is the dealers who should be
responsible," she said. Children should "stop and think again" if they were
tempted by drugs, she said, otherwise they could be "the next Andrew Woodlock".

Sentencing the boy, the judge, Lord Kirkwood, said: "This case has
demonstrated, once again, the dangers inherent in taking ecstasy. The
information before me is that the effects of taking ecstasy are quite
unpredictable and the consumption of even relatively small amounts of the
drug can have fatal conse-quences."

The court was told that the boy who found the pills doled them out like
sweets to impress friends. He even warned them that they might die. Soon
after taking one, Andrew started head-butting fences and being sick.

The next day he took three. His mother found him clawing at his hair and
face, his whole body shaking. He became violently sick, had an insatiable
thirst and drank pints of water before lapsing into a coma.

He lingered five days on a ventilator before being declared brain-dead. Mrs
Woodlock and her husband, Felix, were at his bedside when the machine was
switched off.

Derek Ogg, for the 14-year-old, said he was "devastated" by the death of
Andrew. He said: "For almost two months afterwards he was a virtual recluse
in his house. Even now, his mother comes across him in a depressed state and
he is often crying. This was a single episode of boyhood experimentation
which led to a tragedy which was as random as it was heartbreaking."

Lord Kirkwood told MacFarlane that the provision of safe houses was an
integral part of the drugs distribution network. Courts had repeatedly
warned those involved in the network that they would be dealt with severely.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett