Manslaughter charges against the mother and brother of a teenager who died in a house fire will not be pursued, after prosecution experts changed their minds. Danielle Johnson, 44, and Louis Casson, 20, had been due to stand trial accused of killing Leah Casson, 18, who died at the family's home in North Shields on 16 January 2023.
Ahead of the trial at Newcastle Crown Court, prosecutors stated that the manslaughter charge against Johnson, Casson, and a third man, Calvin Smith, 38, would be discontinued, with not guilty verdicts recorded. Formal not guilty verdicts were recorded against all three defendants, clearing Louis Casson of any wrongdoing.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the court that experts in various fields had initially provided reports for the prosecution. However, after defence experts filed contradictory reports, the prosecution experts re-evaluated the evidence and altered their opinions. This led to a "fundamental problem" regarding whether the cause of the fatal fire could realistically be established as the electrical meter, which had been bypassed.
Johnson and Smith both admitted abstracting electricity between 10 August and 22 November 2022. Johnson received a two-year conditional discharge, with Mr Justice Cotter noting that she had become aware of the bypassed meter in November 2022 and had it reconnected within hours. Smith is due to be sentenced on 22 October after a pre-sentence report is completed.