Eloise Parry diet drug not for consumption, jury told

Eloise Parry was diagnosed with bulimia and borderline personality disorder

A man accused of selling a slimming aid that killed a student said it was not intended for human consumption.

Eloise Parry, 21, from Shrewsbury, died in April 2015 after taking eight diet pills containing dinitrophenol (DNP).

Bernard Rebelo, 31, is on trial at Inner London Crown Court, charged with her manslaughter.

He admitted to the jury on Wednesday he sold DNP to Miss Parry, but said there was a warning about the drug on his website.

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Giving evidence, Mr Rebelo, from Gosport in Hampshire, said he started selling steroids online in 2012.

He told the jury he later switched to DNP because "it wasn't illegal".

The student died after taking eight diet pills containing dinitrophenol (DNP)

Mr Rebelo said he included a warning on his website the substance was not for human consumption.

"It had numerous other uses - photography, fertiliser, pesticide, paint dye," he added.

He said he did not intend or expect anyone who bought DNP from him to eat it.

The jury previously heard DNP is a highly toxic substance when ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

Miss Parry had been studying families and childhood studies at university

It causes weight loss by burning fat and carbohydrates, in turn causing energy to be converted into heat.

Miss Parry, a student at Glyndwr University, Wrexham, had mental health problems as a teenager and was diagnosed with bulimia and a borderline personality disorder, the court heard.

Mr Rebelo denies two counts of manslaughter and one of supplying an unsafe food supplement between 2014 and 2016.

His partner Mary Roberts, 32, also from Gosport, faces one count of money laundering after allegedly transferring £20,000 on his behalf.