Seven years for diet pills killer

A businessman who killed a student by selling her the lethal slimming pills she thought were were a ‘magic solution’ for her weight problems has been jailed for seven years.

Eloise Aimee Parry, 21, was obsessed with her size and posted pictures of models around her home who she thought were perfectly proportioned.

She suffered from bulimia and bought the capsules of DNP from a website run by Bernard Rebelo, 31.

At least 16 people have died by playing ‘Russian Roulette’ with the unpredictable drug.

Low dosages burn fat – but the slightest overdose can destroy the cells of the body’s vital organs, including the heart.

Eloise took eight pills and died hours after being admitted to hospital.

Rebelo was importing the chemical from China for £340 for a 24 kilo drum and repackaging it in capsules to make a profit of £200,000 per drum.

He posed for pictures behind the wheel of a his Porsche and Corvette sports cars wearing a Rolex.

Together with partner Mary Roberts, 32, he jetted around Europe and the Americas in 2014 for a fabulous luxury holiday.

Rebelo admitted selling Ms Parry the pills but said a warning on his website indicated it was not for human consumption – even though the drug was sold in capsule form.

But he was convicted of manslaughter and placing unfit food on the market.

Roberts and business partner Abert Huynh, 32, were cleared of the manslaughter charges at the end of the prosecution case due to insufficient evidence.

Roberts was also cleared of a single count of money laundering after she transferring £20,000 on behalf of Rebelo in February 2016 but claimed she thought the money came from his motorcycle parts business.

Judge Jeremy Donne told Rebelo: ‘The taking of an innocent life is always very serious. Whilst there was only one death attributed to you conduct, many people were put at risk.

‘You continued to keep selling DNP after the death of Eloise Parry and in all probability after your arrest.

‘All of this was done for financial gain to which you made more than £200,000 and the total gain could been higher.

‘Eloise Parry was an intelligent and articulate woman who struggled with mental health problems. She thought she had found the magic solution to the perception of her body image.’

In a statement to the court, Fiona Parry, the victim’s mother said: ‘Dealing with Eloise’s possessions is something I still haven’t done. When I try to sort through them I can’t.

‘It still reduces me to tears.

‘Eloise had many problems in life but I had always hoped that some how they would be sorted.

‘In the latter part of her life there were positive signs that things were changing for the better.

‘She had found a career she wanted to follow and she had positive plans for the future, like travelling and seeing the world not just a career.

‘When Eloise died, her life was undone and her possible future was unravelled. In that moment the hope that I had for her was also destroyed.’

Rebelo hung his head in court as his barrister Felicity Gerry described him as ‘a devoted family man’ and father of a young daughter, who is 20-months and will grow up with the absence of her father.

‘He is generous, caring and reliable in a family context. His family all appeared here today to support him,’ she said.

The court heard Eloise, a student Wrexham Glyndwr University was vulnerable and depressed and had previously attempted suicide.

Rebelo started his business in 2012 initially selling steroids, before importing DNP as a yellow powder from China.

It had been banned in the 1930s after a series of deaths but was produced again after the internet allowed buyers to purchase the drug online anonymously.

The capsules were filled with powder in his Harrow flat, where the process stained the carpets yellow.

They used two websites: www.drmusclepharmaceuticals.com and www.bionicpharmaceuticals.com to shift the pills, using Bitcoin because it was an ‘anonymous and safe method’.

A single DNP pill can be fatal and the chemical causes vomiting, restlessness, dizziness and a irregular heartbeat.

Consuming lower amounts over longer periods could lead to cataracts and skin lesions and shut down the impact on the heart, blood and nervous system.

Professor Simon Thomas, a consultant physician told the court using DNP was known as ‘Russian Roulette’ because the user could either lose weight – or die.

‘There is uncertainty whether a particular dose will give the desired effects, or in fact produce life threatening and fatal effects,’ he told the court.

‘I think that is where the phrase comes from.’

‘DNP causes some degree of weight reduction and loss of fat, but that is at the expense or risk to the cells of the body and the organs.

‘The dose required to produce these more severe symptoms is relatively low and not much higher than the dosage required to secure weight loss.

Rebelo insisted he had never intended that the pills were for human consumption.

‘I did not expect anyone who bought it to eat it. It has numerous uses like pesticides, fertiliser and paint dye,’ he said.

‘Nowhere was it indicated that it was a weight loss pill or a diet pill.

‘We sold different capsules for fertilisers, for plants in the garden, rat poison, glitter bombs, hair and beauty capsules and fake blood in capsules.

‘Customers brought DNP capsules that could dye flowers in flower arrangements.

‘I sold it in capsules because it was the most professional way to sell and send it. I wasn’t selling it as drugs.

He added: ‘We have a fish tank at my parents house and plant food for that came in capsule form.’

The jury acquitted Roberts, who was accused of money laundering relating to £20,000 in her bank account and was said to have ‘benefited greatly from the business.’

Rebelo, of Grimsby Grove, Beckton, east London, denied, but was convicted of manslaughter and placing unfit food on the market.

Huynh, of Southwell Avenue, Northolt, West London, and Roberts, of West Avenue, Southall, denied and were cleared of manslaughter and placing unfit food on the market due to insufficient evidence.

ends