crime
Representative image of police officers standing on the road near a crime scene in U.K. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Two men allegedly strangled a 16-year-old British schoolgirl after giving her a drink spiked with ecstasy in Leicester, England, and drove around with her dead body for at least four hours on May 14.

Jason Burder and Adam King, both 28, have been accused of plying Megan Bannister with booze and drugs, and later sending embarrassing Snapchat videos of her convulsing.

On Wednesday, both Burder and King went on trial at the Birmingham Crown Court where they were charged with gross negligence manslaughter.

Earlier the court had heard that the duo were seen putting Bannister’s dead body into King’s car. Instead of taking her to a hospital that was minutes away, the two friends drove around looking for cigarettes and alcohol, and kept contacting prostitutes, reported the New York Post.

According to the report, the teenager’s body was found in the vehicle after King lost control of the car and plowed into the back of a motorbike.

Prosecutor Miranda Moore explained that Bannister died either as a result of strangulation, a drug overdose or maybe both.

Moore said, “Bannister was provided with alcohol and drugs by these two. She was also strangled at some point whilst in their company.”

She added, “The pathologist will say that it is unclear which mechanism — drugs or strangulation or a combination of both — that led to the death of the teenager. It’s unclear because these two lied about it. These two men, having left Bannister in a perilous state by drug supply and then strangulation, left her with no care.”

The two friends did not call 999 for assistance. 999 is England’s version of 911.

According to a report, in order to convince and meet Bannister on May 12, Burder pretended to be 21 years old.

The pair met again the following night and in the wee hours of May 14 picked up 2 grams of MDMA. King, a Double Decker High Loader operator, also joined them.

The three took the drug at Burder’s house, and a post-mortem discovered that Bannister’s blood toxicity level was 10 times more than that of the two males.

The New York Post reported that further talking about the case Moore said, “When she was in this state, they took her off in the car, driving around from 8 a.m. until the crash at around 11:45 a.m. They did not seek any assistance for her at all.”

As the duo drove around the streets of Leicester, their phone records showed that Burder and King had called for escort services and also searched "busty and exotic brunette, sexy lady lovely and warm, and sensual and hot ladies" on the internet.

After the crash, witnesses said that the two males showed no worry for the motorcyclist and the pillion rider. When asked by an onlooker, the two averred that Megan was asleep. However, a nurse who was present at the scene had noticed that the teenager was already dead.

In an interview to the police, the duo claimed they “could not remember” anything between taking the drugs and the car crash.

Burder has denied supplying class A drugs, possession and supply of MDMA, supplying cocaine and offering to supply MDMA. King also denied supplying class A drugs.

The trial for the two accused will continue for three weeks.