FOUR friends of Nick Bonnie avoided jail today after lying to police about the death of the former Prince's Trust worker.

Mr Bonnie, 30, who grew up in King’s Stanley, collapsed and died in September last year after having swallowed a pill from what police described as a 'bad batch' of the drug ecstasy.

He was rushed to hospital on September 27 last year after collapsing at the Warehouse Project nightclub in Manchester.

Four of his friends who were with Mr Bonnie at the nightclub eventually admitted charges relating to his death and were sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court today, Monday.

The case was prolonged after the men initially grouped together to lie about where they had obtained the drugs – something that provoked an angry reaction from Mr Bonnie's mother in court.

The group told investigators that the drugs were all purchased inside the nightclub.

However, later analysis of Mr Bonnie’s phone showed the group chatting over instant messaging service WhatsApp in the weeks leading up to their trip to Manchester discussing their excitement at visiting Warehouse Project and consuming drugs.

It was agreed between the men that James Churchill, aged 31, of Selsley West, would purchase drugs for the group.

Churchill, a gym owner, admitted three charges of supplying controlled Class A drug MDMA, three counts of supplying cocaine and a charge of perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

However his sentence was suspended for 18 months and he was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

Paul Tabb, aged 31, of Stanley View, Stroud, and dad-of-one Dan Neale, aged 30, of Moseley Crescent, Stroud, admitted possession of MDMA, possession of cocaine and perverting the course of justice by providing a false witness statement.

They were both sentenced to eight months imprisonment which was suspended for 18 months and the pair were ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

Construction site engineer Simon Lloyd-Jones, aged 29, of Foxmoor Lane, Stroud, also admitted perverting the course of justice but was not charged with any drugs offences after it was made clear through the WhatsApp messages that he did not consume or supply any substances at any stage.

He was sentenced to eight months imprisonment which was also suspended for 18 months, as well as 250 hours of unpaid work.

All four men were also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £220 each by Judge Jeffrey Lewis who slammed the ‘fashionable’ world of recreational drug use.

Mr Bonnie had worked for the Prince’s Trust – Prince Charles’ young persons’ charity – for eight years and had even attended one of the Queen’s garden parties at Buckingham Palace.

The friends had all travelled from Gloucestershire to the popular Warehouse Project nightclub for the Friday evening, snorting cocaine on the drive north as well as in their accommodation near Media City in Salford.

Robert Hall, prosecuting, said: “In the days running up to September 27 there was a lot of contact between all five men on WhatsApp and that contact was recovered from Mr Bonnie’s phone.

“The content of those messages demonstrated clear excitement between the five, not only about their planned trip but also anticipating taking illegal controlled drugs while they attended.

“There is reference made within the messages to MDMA, cocaine and ketamine.

“In the end James Churchill became the person responsible for sourcing cocaine and ecstasy for the group.”

The group made their way to the Warehouse Project with more ecstasy which they had planned to take and at some point during the night they lost Mr Bonnie.

Mr Hall added: “They assumed all was well but in the early hours of Saturday morning Mr Bonnie was found in the courtyard area by security staff and he was unresponsive to them.

“An ambulance was called and he was taken to the Manchester Royal Infirmary but unfortunately at that location shortly before 5am he suffered a significant cardiac arrest and couldn’t be resuscitated.

“A post-mortem revealed that he was an otherwise healthy man but died as a result of an excessive consumption of ecstasy.”

The four friends were telephoned from the hospital while Mr Bonnie was still in a serious condition.

Mr Hall said it was at this point they decided to say the drugs had been given to them inside the club.

In court Mr Bonnie’s heartbroken mother Pauline, who works in drug rehabilitation, took to the witness box to read a prepared statement about the impact the loss of her son has had and the added pain created by the lies of these men.

“In the early hours we were told our beloved, beautiful son, brother and partner had died,” she said.

“Since this day a part of us all has died and our lives will never be the same without Nick.

“Over 1,000 people attended his funeral to pay their respects, travelling from all over the UK, Asia, America and Australia. Every day was and still is a reminder that he is gone.

“We all feel cheated in not being able to see him marry his partner Leah, have children and have a bright future at the Prince’s Trust. There is still such sadness among family and friends as they struggle to come to terms with his death.”

Fund-raising in Mr Bonnie’s name for the Prince’s Trust has reached more than £14,000 in the year since his death, she added.

“The lies these men have told have caused emotional anguish and unnecessary stress,” she said.

“It will be more than 12 months since his death before the inquest is now heard.

“As a family we will never come to terms with the loss, our grief and loss at what could and what should have been a future.

“Every day feels like a mountain to climb, we are a broken family and will never get over this. Our lives have changed forever and we have lost our sparkle until the day we all leave this world.”

Lloyd Jenkins, defending Neale, an operations manager for a manufacturing firm, said: "It is a devastatingly tragic and sad case, every parent’s worst nightmare. A small group of adult friends planned a social weekend away which resulted in the tragic loss of one of their number.

“To put this case into context we are dealing with five consenting adult friends who had arranged to have a lad’s weekend. Nobody was under pressure to take drugs.”

Sentencing the men, Judge Jeffrey Lewis condemned the use of Class A drugs but noted that the men should be spared immediate prison because of the tragedy of the case, their excellent work records and genuine remorse.

“Activity of this kind is sometimes described as recreational use of drugs as if some activity was acceptable or legitimate. It is neither acceptable nor legitimate, it is criminal,” he said.

“However we all know that it is fashionable and not uncommon among young people.

“Your culpability for the death of Mr Bonnie was that you were party to promoting the supply of illegal drugs and sadly, although it is hard to say so, equally to his own culpability as a willing participant.

“You all joined together to deliberately avoid the truth. More significant is that none of you in the cold light of day took steps to reverse the decision not to tell the truth.

“Maybe the motive was to protect Mr Churchill it may be the reason for not telling the truth was to protect the family of Nick Bonnie from the uncomfortable knowledge that he was someone who from time to time took illegal drugs.

“But the fact remains that the foundations of the investigation were damaged from the outset by your deceit. When truth should have been a premium, each of you chose to conceal it.”