A former Paris cat-walk model died after she was g

A former Paris cat-walk model died after she was given a couple of ‘slaps’ by her boyfriend during a drunken row, the Old Bailey heard today.

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Swedish beauty Fiona Karin Horberg, 40, drifted into unconsciousness after security guard Derek Macey, 35, struck her in the face giving her a black eye.

But despite Miss Horberg’s state Macey did not call an ambulance for nearly a week and she ended up dying in a hospital after her complicated medical condition worsened.

Today on his 35th birthday Macey, who worked for Rentokil, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of negligence by failing to get his partner medical help.

But Macey was jailed for only 30 months although Judge David Morgan-Hughes described his behaviour as ‘negligence bordering on recklessness.

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Defending Macey, Nigel Rumfitt, QC, said the ‘love story’ began in the late 1980s when he met the then ‘successful model’ in London.

‘They spent the evening in eachother’s company and never met again until late 1997 when they both crossed quite by chance.

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The QC said the romance flourished and Miss Horberg, the daughter of a Scotsman, was as ‘happy as could be’ for a time as she fell ‘deeply in love’ with Macey.

But her career went down hill and she became addicted to drink and drugs, spending periods of time in clinics.

The court heard she set up home with Macey in Broomfield Lane, Palmers Green, north London and on January 18 last year they both took the day off work.

They settled down for a ‘drinking binge’ but at some stage a row erupted and, to use the defendant’s words, he ‘slapped her,’ said Louise Kamill, prosecuting.

‘It is apparent she did not recover consciousness after that.

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But Macey failed to call for an ambulance until January 24.

‘She had been comatose for six days,’ said Miss Kamill.

Her condition deteriorated and on February 16 last year she died after a blood clot developed in the vein leading to the heart.

In interview Macey told police he had slapped Miss Horberg and ‘out of panic he never sought medical help for her.

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He also said at some stage she had taken some tranquillizers.

Macey, last living in Coombe Lane, Raynes Park, Wimbledon, southwest London, admitted manslaughter on the basis of negligence and assault causing actual bodily harm, reflecting the black eye he inflicted.

He is a man of previous good character, save for a criminal damage conviction, dating back to the 1970s when he was 12.

Mr Rumfitt, who described it as an ‘extremely unusual case’, said:

‘He quite plainly was in love with the deceased and she loved him but none the less he admits his conduct was a contributory factor in her death.

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His actions have ‘deprived him of the one woman with whom he had a meaningful relationship.

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The QC said both parties were drunk at the time of the row in which Macey ‘lost his temper and slapped her in the face causing her a black eye.

‘After he hit her she carried on nagging him.

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Mr Rumfitt said eventually Macey passed out from drinking too much vodka and the next day he found Miss Horberg unconscious.

‘He undressed her and put her to bed.

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The QC said that over the next few days Miss Horberg appeared to be drifting in and out of consciousness and ‘mumbling and moving about.

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Macey even tried to feed her soup, the court was told.

Before he finally called for an ambulance Macey had also found an empty packet of Xanax tranquillisers near to her body.

The court was told that Miss Horberg’s condition worsened after blood clots in her lower body entered her pulmonary artery.

Mr Rumfitt said Miss Horberg’s problems began when she was a ‘successful model living in Paris.

She became addicted to drink and drugs and spent sometime in a psychiatric hospital.

‘She was in a very troubled emotional and imbalanced state.

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Mr Rumfitt said she fell ‘deeply in love’ with Macey after she came back to London and according to a statement from her Scottish father, William Millar, she rediscovered happiness.

Mr Millar had approved of their relationship and he said:

‘Her confidence came back.

She was so happy.

She was as happy as she had been for many years.

I was so happy and positive for her.

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But when she became ‘comatose’ Macey was ‘ill equipped to deal with the situation,’ continued Mr Rumfitt.

‘He acknowledges he had played a part in the death of the only woman he has ever been able to share a life with.

There is no doubt he will be haunted by what he has done for the rest of his life.

‘He is tormented by guilt about his responsibility in bringing about her death.

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Judge Morgan-Hughes told him: ‘There is no doubt you struck your partner when both of you had taken far too much to drink.

I would have thought that the black eye inflicted on her could not have been the result of what you said were just three slaps.

‘It seems clear that there was more force than slapping.

But I accept the submission that the injury you undoubtedly caused her did not contribute to her death.

The relevant conclusions of the doctors who examined her make that perfectly clear.

‘But it is equally clear that your failure to call her medical assistance much earlier than you did was a substantial cause of her death.

Had you responded and called for medical assistance when she had become comatose at the beginning of the week, then the doctors’ view is that her life could have been saved.

‘There was a degree of deliberation in your failure to do that to avoid trouble for yourself for the obvious injury to her eye.

‘It was gross negligence bordering on the reckless.

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Macey, smartly dressed in a dark blue suit, shirt and tie, showed no emotion as he was sentenced to a total of 30 months.

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