Civil servant who spiked drink with abortion drug remanded in custody

Darren Burke was found guilty at Isleworth Crown Court

A civil servant has been remanded in custody for spiking his mistress's drink to try to cause a miscarriage.

Darren Burke, 43, a deputy director at the Home Office, crushed up an abortion pill and put it in Laura Slade's glass of orange juice.

The married father-of-one had a five-year affair with Ms Slade and she became pregnant at the end of 2020.

He wanted to prevent his wife and child from finding out about the relationship, a jury heard.

When Ms Slade refused to have a termination, Burke laced her drink with mifepristone - a medication used to induce an abortion.

She had an unrelated miscarriage weeks later.

• Man guilty of spiking drink with abortion drug

Burke, from Windsor, Berkshire, claimed he had crushed up the abortion tablets after buying them online and flushed them down the sink when it became clear Ms Slade was determined to keep the baby.

He denied one charge of obtaining the drug with intent and another of attempting to administer it to procure a miscarriage.

A jury at Isleworth Crown Court found Burke guilty of the second count but could not reach a verdict on the first.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is not seeking a retrial and the count has been left to lie on file.

The judge remanded Burke in custody after telling him he faced a "sentence of immediate imprisonment of some length".

The 43-year-old, who was suspended from his job at the Home Office following his arrest, will be sentenced at the same court on 16 June.

'Gut feeling'

Giving evidence from behind a screen, Ms Slade earlier told jurors she made it "very clear" that she did not want an abortion.

In a message to Burke, she said: "You've yelled at me, forced me to call an abortion clinic, told me how this will destroy your loved ones repetitively, you offered to hold my hand at the abortion clinic, you have crushed my heart."

Ms Slade said she had "an instant gut feeling something was not right" when, in December 2020, Burke offered to bring a coffee shop latte or tea the following morning to her two-bedroom flat in Chiswick, west London.

"He was very flustered, walking between the front room and the kitchen and was offering me a drink again.

"I just looked at it and looked at him and said: 'Well I'm not drinking that. I've told you I've got morning sickness'."

She said that once Burke had left, she found a white powder - later found to be mifepristone - inside the glass and called police to report her suspicions the following day.

Karen Sturman from the CPS said: "Darren Burke was living a double life and was desperate to abort his unborn child so that his wife and family did not find out about his secret relationship.

"His actions were premeditated and selfish."