Five teenagers who dumped their dying friend in a country lane on the island of Jersey after a night of drug-fuelled partying have been found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

The prosecution claimed the teenagers carried Morgan Huelin, 16, away from the house where he had collapsed so police would not find class-A drugs and images of child sexual abuse there.

All five, aged 16 and 17, were convicted of involvement in the alleged cover-up. In addition, one of them – identified only as defendant one – was found guilty of possessing the drugs LSD and MDMA and possessing four indecent images of children.



Jersey youth court was told that Morgan died after taking four different drugs at a house party on the Channel island, where he was a pupil at the prestigious public school Victoria College.

After the party in July last year he went to the home of one of the defendants for a sleepover but collapsed in the garage as the others stripped for a hot-tub party.

The following morning he was found unconscious with blood and saliva running from his mouth. But instead of calling for help, the five boys carried him away from the house and left him in a lane, putting his head on a pillow and covering him with a blanket.

A jogger saw three of them – just wearing their underwear or a towel – and described them as looking “like rabbits in headlights” when they realised they had been spotted.

Crown advocate Howard Sharp, for the prosecution, told the court: “All the boys are of good character and are doing well at school. But there was one problem: Morgan’s and [defendant one’s] interest in drugs.”

One witness who stayed overnight at the house but left before the cover-up told the court that Morgan was clearly heavily intoxicated as he was struggling to walk. The witness said the others discussed Morgan’s condition but were not worried as “he had been like this before”.

Next morning the witness left the house at 6am to go to work. He went into the garage, where he said Morgan was lying, to retrieve his bicycle.

“I tapped him and asked if he was OK and I got a response that you would expect from someone whose sleep had been disturbed,” he said. “It was not audible words, but a grunt. I remember moving his shoulder so I could see his chest so I could see if he was breathing.”

Sharp said the next person to enter the garage was defendant one, who found Morgan unconscious. The crown advocate said: “There was blood and saliva coming out of his mouth. His airway was blocked. He either had a very weak pulse or no discernible pulse at all.

“Morgan’s condition was critical, and obviously so. An ambulance was urgently required. Defendant one decided not to call the emergency services. We say that he feared, quite correctly, that calling an ambulance would trigger a chain of events that would result in the police attending the home and searching the property. It was decided to move Morgan far away from the home so that the police would not come there.”

The four other defendants were woken up. “They all agreed to carry Morgan out on to the road. They managed to move him 160 metres,” he said.

A dog walker, Carly Lockhart, came upon Morgan and three of the defendants. She said the boys were “vague and monosyllabic” when she asked why they had not called an ambulance. “What struck me was that he was lying there with a cushion and a blanket, which presumably the boys had put there. There was some desire to make sure he was comfortable but no desire to seek help.”

An ambulance arrived at 9.30am but Morgan could not be saved.

The five boys were initially arrested on suspicion of murder because there was blood on Morgan’s body and an injury to defendant one’s wrists.

Judge Bridget Shaw said there was no evidence that carrying Morgan down the road contributed to his death. She said: “Teenagers don’t have the foresight of adults and they can’t actually believe that someone is going to die and this probably hadn’t crossed their minds.”

Following the convictions, Morgan’s family spoke of their “indescribable devastation”.



They said: “Morgan was hard-working and conscientious. He wanted to be a doctor, working for Médecins Sans Frontières. He just wanted to help people. Morgan was outgoing and loved talking to people, he was kind, caring and compassionate. All the qualities he would have needed to be a doctor we loved in our son.

“His three siblings all looked up to him as the big brother and they doted on each other. He was a typical teenager but always found time for his little brother, taking him to the park, teaching him how to skateboard and making him laugh by making faces in the soap every night in the bath. It’s impossible to explain what has happened to a three-year-old.

“He was sporty, playing rugby for his school and the island, and hockey for the school as well. He played the guitar and the harmonica. He had a wicked sense of humour and was always teasing us.”

The five will be sentenced at a later date.