The drug dealer who sold the ecstasy that led to the death of 16-year-old Daniel Spargo-Mabbs has been jailed for five years.

Nicqueel Pitrora, 18, of London Road, Croydon, supplied 2.5 grammes of MDMA to the Archbishop Tenison's High School pupil and four friends, who took the drug at an illegal rave in west London on January 17.

Daniel, of Rymer Road, Addiscombe, collapsed at the rave after his body overheated, causing multiple organ failure.

He fought for life for three days but died at King's College Hospital on January 20.

Pitrora - known as Shampz by his customers - pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A drugs and supply of class B drugs on the first day of his trial last month.

Judge Martin Edmunds said he had "targeted schoolboys" to sell drugs and was the "key player" in the transaction that lead to Daniel's death.

At a sentencing hearing at Isleworth Croydon Court this morning, prosecutor Tyron Silcott said Pitrora had regularly sold cannabis to one of Daniel's friends, also aged 16, and occasionally supplied ecstasy. 

He read extracts of witness statements from Daniel's in which they recalled the fivesome pouring their drugs into bottles of water

Four of the group sipped the water as they travelled from Croydon to Hayes for the rave in a disused warehouse, but Daniel drank his - containing 0.5g of MDMA - upon arrival at the party.

After dancing for a while, Daniel was not seen by friends for two hours until he was found "against a wall, pale and shivering," leading them to call for an ambulance.

Daniel's mother Fiona, 47, fought back tears as she delivered an emotional victim impact statement in court, explaining the toll her son's death had taken on his family.

She said: "As a family with a massive gaping hole now in our centre, we're slowly trying to rebuild our lives into whatever our 'new normal' will be but we've barely begun and have a long and very hard road ahead of us.

"When people talk about having an aching heart, having a broken heart, I'd always assumed this was metaphorical. I didn't know that it would be an actual physical pain. 

"When Dan died, I was unable to function at all, or to work at all for over three months.

"I've been on a phased return for more than three months now, but have made no progress, am still unable to focus for more than an hour in a day, two at most, sometimes only twenty minutes, and some days I'm unable to do anything because I can't stop crying or get off the sofa."

Members of both Daniel and Pitrora's family broke into tears as Mrs Spargo-Mabbs spoke.

Stephen Bailey, Pitrora's barrister, read a letter from the drug dealer expressing remorse for his role in Daniel's death and vowing never to be involved in drugs again.

It read: "From the moment I heard a young man had died, because of something I had been involved in I immediately felt sorry for his friends and family.

"The death of Daniel is something that has affected me in so many ways and is certainly something that will stay with me for the rest of my life."

Judge Edmunds said the Crown Prosecution Service had given "careful consideration" to charging Pitrora with manslaughter but concluded "ultimately the decision to take the drug was made by Daniel, however unwise".

He told Pitrora: "It is apparent that you had made a business of supplying drugs to schoolboys using the street name Shampz to supplement your benefit income and fund your own use.

"I am satisfied that you targeted such young people, providing them with a ready source of drugs, fully aware of their age and, whatever the purchasers themselves may have thought, their immaturity and inexperience."

He added: "No sentence that I can pass can in any way equate to the depth of grief felt by those that loved him, nor the value of that young life lost."

He sentenced Pitrora to five years in prison for supplying MDMA and two years and four months, to run concurrently, for supplying cannabis. 

Speaking outside court alongside Daniel's father Tim and brother Jacob, Mrs Spargo-Mabbs said: "I think we both feel that we are pleased that the judge treated it as seriously as he did and that Daniel's death was taken very seriously as part of the sentence.

"It's not that we want him locked up and that will make us feel better, but we wanted him to connect his actions with their consequences."

Supt Des Rock, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "I'm pleased with the sentence that has been handed down today. Pitrora has only shown remorse at the last moment for his actions.

"He will now spend time in prison where I hope that he will reflect on the devastation that he has caused.

"Pitrora was very much responsible for coordinating the drugs deal and with such overwhelming evidence against him he had no choice but to plead guilty. This is of some comfort to Daniel's family but they are still grieving his untimely death."