A mother has pleaded not guilty after she she was accused of supplying drugs to her teen son and his friends. According to Devin Live, the British mom is currently on trial for reportedly supplying “morphine, alcohol and other medications” to her 15-year-old son and his friends while they were guests in her Salcombe, Devon home.
The mom, 34-year-old Holly Strawbridge, is also accused of taking part in the illegal activity. The mom was detained after her son, Tyler Peck, went to bed after taking the morphine, sniffing aerosols, and drinking and never woke up.
The BBC reports that prosecutors say Strawbridge encouraged her teenage son to use drugs and alcohol to help him deal with the problems in their lives. However, the mother adamantly denies ever giving her son and his friend the drugs and alcohol between January 31 and February 3.
In a statement given on behalf of the prosecution, the Daily Mail reports, “it was an astonishing piece of parenting. Any parent with an ounce of interest in their children’s welfare would do anything in their power to prevent a child from doing these things. But there she was doing it with her son and also his friend.”
During the start of the trial, the prosecution also described Tyler’s passing as “completely avoidable.” Prosecutor Simon Laws continued in his opening statement:
“What makes it a very unusual case is that the person who supplied him with the drugs that he took was his mother, this defendant Holly Strawbridge. She sat with him and a friend, another 15-year-old boy, in the kitchen of their home, drinking alcohol, inhaling aerosol fumes and taking a cocktail of drugs including two particularly dangerous drugs. They had been prescribed to her for medical reasons but that night she was simply abusing them together with the two boys. Tyler went to sleep in the early hours and sadly he never woke up.”
Law went on to describe Tyler as a teen who could be difficult to parent, who often defied the rules and was considered unruly and aggressive. He was also described as popular, a boy who had left behind a large group of friends.
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The friend who was also in the home at the time of Tyler’s overdose was not harmed. Law told the jury that he and Tyler were given “Oramorph, a form of liquid medication, and Gabapentin, as well as “Valium and the painkiller Co-codamol” as she reportedly drank with them in the kitchen.
After going to bed around 2:30 a.m., Tyler was discovered dead the next day around noon. The friend who found him is expected to be cross-examined in court at some point during Strawbridge’s trial, which is expected to take five to six days.
On top of allegedly supplying underage kids, the mom also faces charges of cruelty.
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