The heartbroken mum of a tragic Stirling teen who died after taking MDMA said life is “tinged with sadness” as the man who supplied the drugs to her avoided jail.
Ellie Anderson-Park was just 16 when she took a lethal dose of the class A drug.
The teenager, remembered by her mum Louise Anderson as an “amazing, vibrant young girl”, was given the drugs by Martin Cooper, 21, who also supplied them to two other girls, on July 22, 2020.
Ellie became seriously ill at around 10pm that day and was rushed to Forth Valley Royal Hospital by ambulance.
Sadly she died in the early hours of the following morning.
When he became aware Ellie had died, Cooper asked another man to destroy evidence which linked him to her death, charges state.
Ellie’s grieving mum Louise, said she had been expecting the tragic circumstances would see him locked up but when Cooper appeared for sentencing at Stirling Sheriff Court on May 15, he was handed a Community Payback Order with 18 months supervision.
Louise said: “The sentencing is an absolute joke. He has got 18 months supervision and a Community Payback Order. He’s under social work supervision which means he gets a meeting with social work once a week and that’s it.
“I’ve followed other cases in Glasgow and people have got jail sentences for similar sorts of things.
“We were told the charges were serious and that five years in prison was an option, but he is now a free man.
“He has been out there waiting and living while we’ve been trying to go through things without Ellie.”
Ellie – a pupil at Riverside Primary and who then attended St Modan’s High – left behind her heartbroken parents and six siblings.
Transgender Ellie was born male but had lived her life as a girl from the age of three, her mum said.
Speaking to the Observer, Louise said: “My youngest Ramsay is a year younger than Ellie and he has always got that sadness now that he’s overtaken how old she would have been. There have been so many things that have happened whether it’s birthdays or her sisters getting pregnant and having babies. There is that joy tinged with sadness because there is somebody missing.”
Ellie was planning to undergo gender reassignment surgery when she turned 18 and longed to be a mother, taking the decision to freeze some of her sperm at the age of 14 with plans to use an egg donor and a surrogate to fulfil her wish.
After Ellie’s death her family launched a legal fight to retain control over frozen sperm samples given to a Glasgow fertility clinic.
Louise added: “Ellie had her whole life mapped out for years, she was working on her career in hair and beauty and was accepted on to her course in Glasgow and an example of the things you don’t think about – having to phone the college to say she won’t be attending because she’s died.”
Martin Cooper, whose address was given as Low Moss Prison in court papers, was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court on May 15.
His solicitor Frazer McCready had told Sheriff Charles Lugton that Cooper had been suffering mental health issues.
Mr McCready also pointed out that a favourable report had been prepared for the court which mentioned non-custodial sentencing options for the accused.
Cooper pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to supplying the class A drug to three women at Lower Bridge Street, Woodside Road and elsewhere in Stirling on July 22, 2020. He also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at an address in Stirling the following day by inducing another man to destroy evidence of controlled drugs in a message.
The charge stated that Cooper knew that Ellie had died and that her death may be drug related.
We asked prosecutors, the Crown Office, to comment on the sentence handed to Cooper.
A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: ”As with all cases, the Crown will consider the sentence and give consideration as
to whether it might be unduly lenient.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Justiciary said: “A sheriff will always carefully consider the facts presented to the court both by the defence and by the prosecution, and will always take into account the unique factors of each case.
“A sheriff will also carefully consider the circumstances of the particular offence, the impact on a victim and what sentence is most appropriate to reduce reoffending, preventing other people from becoming victims in the future.
“They must also have regard to any relevant Scottish Sentencing Council guidelines.”
