Smuggler jailed after cocaine-laced rum killed drinker
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 5:38 pm
Read more at the Guardian.Cocaine smuggler jailed for 20 years after drug-laced rum killed drinker
Tragic chain of events led Lascell Malcolm to die after drinking shot from contaminated bottle.
A smuggler has been jailed for 20 years for the manslaughter of a taxi driver who died after unwittingly drinking a shot of rum from a bottle heavily laced with cocaine.
Lascell Malcolm's death was the tragic culmination of a chain of coincidences after the bottle of Bounty Rum and its lethal contents was taken aboard a flight from St Lucia to Gatwick airport by an unsuspecting passenger, who then passed it to another, before it was given to the driver as a thank-you present.
The drug had been smuggled in the bottle by Martin Newman, of Romford, east London, who was yesterday convicted of manslaughter by a jury at Croydon crown court. The jury heard he duped an acquaintance, Michael Lawrence, into taking two bottles on to the plane, saying he had exceeded his baggage allowance.