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One Year After Benwell Blast, Archie York Honoured as Police Detail 11 Shatter Labs Dismantled

Newcastle City Council backs a memorial trail alongside a national training resource that uses the family's testimony to help people spot lethal shatter labs.

Overview

  • Family and friends marked the anniversary with a public tribute for the seven-year-old, reflecting ongoing community support and grief.
  • Northumbria Police report 11 cannabis shatter labs dismantled since the explosion, compared with six in 2023 and one in 2022.
  • The council will help create Archie’s Nature Trail at Parish Ponds in Woolsington, which the family hopes to have ready by May.
  • A council–Safe Newcastle training resource in development will share the York family’s account to raise national awareness of butane-extraction dangers.
  • The 2024 blast, caused by shatter production below the family’s home, killed Archie and Jason Laws, displaced 142 people from 51 homes, and resulted in a 14-year sentence for Reece Galbraith.