Ecstasy death accused cries for Jade

Rebecca Hodgson said she "really cared for Jade"

A woman accused of the manslaughter of a 10-year-old girl has told a court how the youngster died after taking five ecstasy tablets.

Jade Slack died in hospital after taking the pills near her home in the village of Galgate, near Lancaster, Lancashire, last July.

The 21-year-old woman at whose house Jade took the tablets cried as she gave evidence at Manchester Crown Court, telling the court she cared deeply about Jade.

Rebecca Hodgson, from Lancaster, and her then boyfriend, Wayne Wood, now 22, from Galgate, are both charged with Jade's manslaughter.

The prosecution says they had a duty to protect Jade from being exposed to the class A drug.

Ms Hodgson said she had known Jade for several months before she died and had thrown a number of parties for her and another girl.

Jade died after taking five tablets

Asked how she felt about the girls, and Jade in particular, Ms Hodgson told the jury: "I really cared for her."

The night before Jade died, Mr Wood had left a cigarette box containing 35 of his ecstasy tablets under the sofa, the court was told.

He forgot to take them with him when he left and later telephoned Ms Hodgson to ask her to move them.

"He just told me 'I have left my tablets underneath your settee. Can you move them upstairs and count them?'," Ms Hodgson told the court.

"He said he would ring me back to check how many there were," she added.

Pill count

But instead of taking them immediately upstairs, Ms Hodgson said she put them on the stairs, ready to be taken up a few minutes later.

When she did go to hide the box, she counted the pills on her bed, before stuffing the carton behind one of her son's soft toys.

But after Ms Hodgson had spoken to Mr Wood a second time, Jade went upstairs, found the pills and took five.

Under cross examination from prosecuting barrister James Pickup QC, Ms Hodgson admitted that leaving the pills unguarded upstairs had been unsafe and potentially dangerous.

The obvious thing to do was to have asked Mr Wood to come straight back to get the pills, Mr Pickup said.

The trial continues.