Teen who sold fatal ecstasy tab to Dione Melville sentenced

Dione Melville, 15, and two of her female friends were at a sleepover party when they took the ecstasy they bought from the youth.

All three girls were rushed to hospital when they fell ill after swallowing the tablets.

Their 15-year-old dealer knew that the drugs were “dodgy” because a girl he had sold a tab to the week before had also taken ill, Livingston Sheriff Court was told.

Katrine Craig, prosecuting, said that when he was filmed on CCTV selling the class A drug for £10 a tab, the youth had warned one of the girls to be careful and to “take the tablets in halves because they were lethal”.

Dione’s two friends survived their ordeal but the “ambitious young lady” – who had planned to work in hairdressing and the beauty industry after leaving school – died in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

Following Dione’s shock death last March, Facebook tributes poured in for the popular teenager from friends and classmates at West Calder High School.

Passing sentence, Sheriff Ferguson told the accused: “You have pled guilty to an extremely serious charge and this involved a class ‘A’ drug Ecstasy which is known to have at times disastrous effects, particularly when taken by young people.

“Initially what happened is that you passed this drug on to one young person and you became aware that that young person became ill.

“Despite that you continued to supply this drug to other youngsters aged just 15 years.”