Humberston Fitties: Jury retires in lethal drug dose vape trial

A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a man accused of spiking his date's vape fluid with a lethal dose of a powerful painkiller.

Kim Harrop, 55, was found dead in Christopher Downes' bed after spending the night at his cabin near Grimsby, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Prosecutors allege the 53-year-old drugged Ms Harrop with oxycodone and had a sexual motive.

Mr Downes, now of Hatfield in South Yorkshire, denies manslaughter.

He told the jury at his trial that Ms Harrop, a mother of four from Grantham who he had met over dating app Zoosk, must have taken the drug herself to relieve back pain.

The court heard that Mr Downes' former partner had been prescribed oxycodone, a morphine-based painkiller, before her death from cancer.

Prosecutor Jamie Hill had accused him of "stockpiling" the drug and slipping it into Ms Harrop's vape fluid or wine during a date at his cabin in Humberston Fitties on 21 April 2018.

He also alleged Mr Downes delayed calling 999 and deleted messages from his phone after finding her unconscious in his bed just before 05:00 BST the next morning.

The jury was told that 28 minutes passed between Mr Downes turning on his iPhone and calling the emergency services.

Summing up the evidence at Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, the Recorder of Sheffield, told the jury that Mr Downes insisted he had called 999 as soon as he had charged his phone and was able to get a signal.

Mr Downes denied intentionally keeping oxycodone and said it was "just left over" from his former partner's treatment, the court heard.

He said a bottle of the painkiller had been left on his bedside table and Ms Harrop had earlier complained of back pain while they were walking on the beach.

Mr Downes, of St George's Avenue in Hatfield, near Doncaster, said it was "ridiculous" to suggest he had drugged her and there would have been "nothing to be gained" from doing so because "sex was not an issue".

The jury retired to deliberate its verdict on Thursday afternoon.

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