Man jailed for killing 17-year-old daughter with ecstasy

A man has been jailed for five years and four months after he was found guilty of killing his own daughter with ecstasy.

Jason Wilkes took ecstasy with his 17-year-old daughter, Chloe and failed to get her medical help for more than an hour after she started suffering from the side effect of the class A drug.

Prosecutor James Mulholland QC told the court that Wilkes and his daughter took drugs, including ecstasy and cocaine, together regularly.

Wilkes the court learnt would buy the drugs and split them between himself and his daughter.

On the evening of Friday, July 25, 2014, Wilkes and his daughter, Chloe took a gram of cocaine and a gram of MDMA between them, staying up all night.

The following day, Wilkes bought another gram of MDMA and once his 13-year-old son, Chloe's brother, had gone to bed, father and daughter each wrapped half a gram of the drug up in a cigarette paper and swallowed it with water, "a method of ingestion called bombing", the prosecutor, Mr Mulholland revealed to the court.

Later in the night about 1am on Sunday, July 27, 2014, Chloe had started to become agitated and disorientated. Instead of driving her to the hospital, A 45-year-old Jason Wilkes drove his daughter from their home in Ashford, Kent, to a woodland area on the edge of the town, and then to an industrial estate where he worked, in an attempt to cool her down.

Wilkes eventually called 999 at 2.01am, telling the operator his daughter was not breathing and that she did not have a pulse. She died later that day.

A toxicology report showed that Chloe had 3.1mg of MDMA per litre in her blood, enough to prove fatal; cocaine was also found in her blood.

It was revealed that if he had sought medical help for her as soon as he realised she was unwell, medical personals might have been able to stop her from overheating, which eventually caused her heart to stop.

Jason Wilkes had been due to stand trial over his daughter's death but pleaded guilty to manslaughter as he was responsible for giving her the harmful substance. Court told Jason Wilkes that there was no suggestion that he intended to kill his daughter but there was traces of gross negligence.

While sentencing, Judge Philip Statman told Jason Wilkes that he was going to live the rest of his life knowing that his conduct led to the death of his daughter who he loved.

"That's an enormous burden for you to have to carry with you, but it is not just your burden. She is lost to her mother, brother and her extended family, a life tragically cut short," Judge Philip Statman said.