Civil servant faces jail for trying to give his ex partner a miscarriage
A married Home Office boss who spiked his pregnant mistress’s orange juice with drugs to cause a miscarriage is facing jail.
Darren Burke, 43, wanted Laura Slade to have an abortion to keep his double life secret from his wife but she refused, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
He crushed tablets of mifepristone into Ms Slade’s glass and asked her to drink it, saying she needs to keep her vitamins up.
She declined and Burke poured the juice down the sink as he left.
Ms Slade called the police when she noticed a powdery residue and white granules in the empty glass.
Forensic tests revealed the presence of the prescription drug.
Burke, deputy director of the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme, claimed he had only bought the pills in case Ms Slade wanted to take them.
He said he poured them away because he was concerned the drugs could harm her child or her dog if he left them in the bin.
Burke was convicted yesterday of administering a poison to cause a miscarriage after a trial at Isleworth Crown Court.
But the jury failed to reach a verdict against Burke today in relation to a charge of unlawfully supplying a poison.
Judge Alastair Hammerton discharged the jury from returning a verdict on that charge and it was ordered to lie on the file.
He remanded Burke in custody ahead of sentence on 16 June.
Burke, who is married with a child, has known Ms Slade for about 15 years but they did not start an affair until 2015.
When she discovered she was pregnant in November 2020, Ms Slade messaged Burke on WhatsApp to tell him the news.
‘There was some discussion about the possibility of Ms Slade having a termination and it is clear from messages that Mr Burke did not want her to have the baby,’ said prosecutor Paul Jarvis.
He begged Ms Slade to have an abortion and texed her saying: ‘Babes I understand it’s your body but we can’t keep it.’
‘No you mean you can’t,’ replied Ms Slade.
‘No babes please please listen to me. It will be everyone, your kids, my kids, my wife, your family. This is bigger than you and I. I’m asking you please.’
Burke sent her a link to an abortion clinic and asked: ‘Shall we book this?’
Mr Jarvis said: ‘His motive was obvious. If Ms Slade had kept the baby then his double life would have come crashing down around him because there was no way he could have kept that child a secret from his wife.’
By 18 November Ms Slade had decided to have the baby but Burke told her it would destroy his family life.
The pair arranged to meet at Ms Slade’s home on 4 December. Burke went to the kitchen and returned with two glasses.
‘He put them down beside me,’ said Ms Slade. ‘One looked like orange juice and one was water. I asked him, what is that.
‘He said, I know you are feeling sick so I made some orange juice and water for you. I said I’m not going to drink that.
‘He kept on asking me how much money I wanted, I said I can’t have this conversation. I just wanted him gone.’
Ms Slade added that she told Burke to leave.
On the way out he asked her if she was going to drink the orange juice to which she replied: ‘F*ck no.’
Burke poured it down the sink and left.
‘I waited for him to leave, locked the door and then ran to the sink. I needed to check that glass.
‘I just knew something was wrong but I did not want to believe it.’
After he had left she found a powdery residue around the rim of the glass.
‘She messaged Mr Burke asking what was in the glass,’ said Ms Jarvis.
‘He said nothing, asking her if she trusted him.’
Mr Jarvis said: ‘His plan was to break the tablets down into a drink where the grains would not be obvious to Ms Slade. His plan failed.’
On Christmas Day Ms Slade lost the baby in a miscarriage though no link was made with Burke’s actions.
Burke told the court he bought a packet of pills online for about £200 after hearing that Ms Slade was pregnant and he had it delivered to his mother’s address where he was staying at the time.
He said he got the pills after discussing the option of an abortion with Ms Slade.
‘Once we had the conversation she was happy with that as an option so I went to procure it,’ Burke said.
On 4 December 2020, three weeks after discovering she was pregnant, he went to visit Ms Slade at her flat in Chiswick.
He told police after his arrest that he was keeping the pills in his car so that his mother didn’t find them.
Burke said he drove round and had only taken the pills into Ms Slade’s flat because he kept them in the glove compartment with his keys and wallet and that he had picked up everything at once.
‘I went to the kitchen, mixed some water and orange juice, because the juice is a bit heavy, took it to the room and said you need to keep your liquids and your vitamins up.’
‘Was there a point at which you realised she was not going to change her mind about having the baby?’ David Spens QC, defending, asked.
‘Yes, when we first sat down I could see it in her eyes.’
‘How did the meeting end?’
‘We did not hug. The decision had been made, we were having the baby. I will go and face my wife and tell her I’ve been a bad husband.’
‘I picked up my cup and I think I had a saucer of Hobnob biscuits. I asked her, do you want your orange juice and water that I made.
‘She said no so I took them into the kitchen and put them in the sink.
‘I had the pills and threw them into the bin and then looked and thought, that’s not a responsible way to dispose of drugs, I need to do it properly.
‘So I picked them up and put them in the sink but they were quite big, they wouldn’t go down.
‘The sink was quite full. I took one of the glasses that was there, used it to break up one of the tablets and washed it around in the glass.’
Burke, of Old Windsor, Berks, denied but was convicted of administering a poison to cause a miscarriage
He denied unlawfully supplying a poison and the jury failed to reach a verdict on that charge.
ends
MEMO NOT FOR PUBLICATION:
DOB: 26 March 1979
