Published: Thursday, 10th January, 2008 12:30
Frantic mum's failed bid to save dying son
By Court reporter
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A FRANTIC mum tried to save her dying son after he had been dumped from a wheelbarrow into her front garden, a court heard on Monday.
Veronica Copeland gave her son Ryan the kiss of life while her husband Kevin phoned for an ambulance.
But by the time the medical team arrived the 19-year-old was already dead.
The High Court in Glasgow heard that 35-year-old John Foxton had kicked Ryan, of Lomond Court, Alloa, in the head while he was so drunk he was incapable of defending himself.
Foxton, from Sauchie, was originally charged with murdering the teenager, at a house in Lomond Court on 22 September, 2006.
However, the Crown accepted a plea of guilty from his QC Mr Paul McBride, to the lesser crime of culpable homicide.
John Scullion, prosecuting, told the court that asthma sufferer Ryan moved to Scotland in 2000 with his Alloa-born mother, and was joined a year later by his dad. He became friends with the accused’s cousin, Thomas Foxton, who lived in the same street.
After a night’s drinking he went back to Foxton’s home where John Foxton overheard him making a sexual remark to his cousin’s girlfriend.
The two men exchanged punches, but witnesses expressed concern about Ryan’s capability to fight due to his drunken condition. He was put out of the house via the back door where Foxton knocked him to the ground and kicked him twice on the head.
Soon after the accused’s cousin Thomas found Ryan bleeding from facial injuries, cleared blood from his mouth, and put him in the recovery position.
Mr Scullion said that Thomas Foxton enlisted the help of the accused to take Ryan home, but by that time he was possibly dead.
Mr Scullion added, “He was then dragged down the slabbed garden path out of the gate to the pavement. Thomas Foxton went into a neighbour’s garden to return with a wheelbarrow.
“Ryan was then loaded into the wheelbarrow and wheeled 100 yards where he was put into his own front garden.
“Thomas Foxton then rattled the letter box to waken his parents.”
The court heard how Mrs Copeland gave her son mouth-to-mouth in a bid to resuscitate him.
A medical examination found Ryan to have minor bruising but no fractures or brain injury.
Mr Scullion said, “It is well recognised, however, that death may occur following minor head injury where the brain is sensitised to trauma by acute alcohol intoxication.”
Cause of death was put down to “minor head trauma when intoxicated with alcohol and asthma”.
The judge, Lord Bracadale, called for reports on Foxton before sentencing him next month.
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