'Unbelievable' - Ludlow man poisoned 'grossly disabled' child, 9, by spiking can of fizzy pop

The 39-year-old man put the white powder in a can of Orangina and encouraged the nine-year-old boy, who had epilepsy and cerebral palsy, to drink it.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard that the offence came to light when a woman, also from the Ludlow area, caught him on video.

She had been covertly filming the man due to suspicions that he was cheating on her.

However, she witnessed the man drop amphetamine into the can and give it a shake, before saying to the boy: “Do you want some of this, little man?”

The woman was also in court to be sentenced for a neglect charge, having waited 17 hours to take the boy to hospital.

He was initially described as hyperactive as a result of taking the substance, but did not become seriously ill.

Later that evening on November 16, 2020, the man told the woman he was “so sorry” and confessed to spiking the drink, the court heard.

The woman, aged 37, did not see the video until the next day. She took the boy to the hospital, where tests confirmed he had ingested amphetamine. He did not stay overnight at the hospital.

The day after the incident, the man told the woman he was going to kill himself, the court was told.

Police went to his home and found he had taken an overdose. Officers interviewed him the next day, but he claimed he did not know what happened to the boy.

The pair, who we are not naming, pleaded guilty to ill-treatment/neglect of a child to cause unnecessary suffering. The man admitted an additional charge of possession of cannabis.

Stephen Scully, mitigating for the defendant, said he used to be in the RAF but was discharged on September 11, 2001 – the day the Twin Towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack in New York.

“One of his friends (from the forces) said ‘we’re going to war’,” said Mr Scully. “For someone trained with that possibility, it was quite a setback.

“He had to bury that friend 18 months later,” Mr Scully added. “That was the start of difficulties in his life. He has long-standing anxiety, depression and PTSD.”

“He also had a difficult break-up, and there was a miscarriage in that relationship. On August 20, 2019, he was attacked with a hammer. He still has an indentation in his skull and is awaiting reconstructive surgery.”

The woman's lawyer said she “needs help with her drinking”.

Judge David Hale told the man: “While I have a degree of sympathy for her (the woman), I have no sympathy for you. Depression, PTSD and addiction is one thing.

“But to deliberately give amphetamine to a nine-year-old, disabled child is unforgivable.

“I expect that you now are horrified that you did it, and can’t understand how you could come to do it or what you were thinking. But you did it.

“It was a deliberate disregard for his welfare.

“It is beyond belief. It really was unbelievable conduct.”

He jailed the man for 32 months, and handed the woman a 12-month conditional discharge with an alcohol treatment requirement of six months and 20 rehabilitation activity hours.