A mother says it is “sickening” that her son died in an explosion because two men were making cannabis shatter in the flat below their home.

Archie York, seven, died when butane gas used to make the toffee-like resin exploded.

The blast wrecked a block of 12 flats in the Benwell area of Newcastle in October 2024.

On Wednesday, Reece Galbraith, 33, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the manslaughter of young Archie and Galbraith’s friend Jason “Jay” Laws, his partner in the manufacture of the shatter.

Archie’s mother Katherine Errington is pleading to anyone involved in the “horrible process” of making cannabis shatter to stop immediately.

She also called on cannabis users to think about how their shatter is made.

Police investigating the explosion discovered that the flat operated by Galbraith and Laws was used as a “drugs lab” to produce cannabis concentrates, known as “shatter” or “butane honey oil”, in a highly dangerous process.

The product was then turned into cannabis edibles, also known as “gummies”.

Experts found that the explosion was caused by the ignition of liquid butane gas, which had been released and built up within the premises as part of the illegal “shatter” production.

More than 100 butane canisters were found in the flat, Prosecutor David Brooke KC said, as well as other “sophisticated and expensive” equipment.

The prosecutor said: “The process of making shatter is inherently dangerous because butane is highly flammable.

“It is a process that has to be done with the utmost care to avoid an explosion.

“When the liquid butane gas escapes, the odourless gas sinks towards the ground because it is heavier than air, and can accumulate in a confined space such as a flat.

“It is dangerous even to store butane bottles inside let alone use the liquid gas in a process like this. The liquid gas will expand a nominal 230 times as it becomes gas.

“Ignition makes the gas expand by a further factor of eight. The failure and ignition of a single bottle of butane would have been too much for the size of the living room in the property.”

Ms Errington was pulled out of the rubble of their flat by Archie’s father, Robbie York, who also found their new baby, Finley, in the wreckage.

But Mr York searched in vain for Archie, and they were told later that he had died.

Ms Errington said she was informed within a week of Archie’s death that shatter was being made in the flat below. She had to Google what is was.

Asked how she felt when she realised what had caused the blast, she said: “Furious.”

She added: “It’s so upsetting. To find out that his death could have been prevented if people were not doing that in an enclosed area, it just makes us sick. It’s sickening.”

She said: “They knew the dangers of making cannabis shatter. As soon as you Google cannabis shatter a warning comes up – do not make in an enclosed area.

“And obviously a one-bedroom flat is an enclosed area.”

She said: “It’s a horrible process which has caused the death of my son.

“So, even if people are planning to do it, or are doing it now, you’ve got time to stop, you could save a life.”

After they were informed of Archie’s death, a doctor advised Ms Errington and Mr York not to go straight to see Archie’s body, telling the couple: “Because it’s not Archie, and I want you to remember him the way he was.”

She said they did eventually go and see him, but they were not allowed to touch him or hold his hand.

Ms Errington said Archie was “a fun-loving seven-year-old boy”.

“He loved school, he loved his friends, he loved his family, he just loved everyone’s attention.”

She said he was a big fan of the Marvel universe and playing Fortnite, explaining how promising him a game on the battling video game after his tea was the only way to get him to eat all his food.

Ms Errington said Archie loved playing football with his dad and he doted on his new little brother, Finley.

“The most horrible thing is not being able to watch him grow up and be who he wanted to be.

“He was only here for seven years, but his personality changed every year.”

She said the family lost “everything” in the blast, including photos of Archie’s, his umbilical cord and school drawings.

“All of them can’t be replaced.”