R v Bernard Rebelo sentencing remarks
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 11 March 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Criminal |
| Court | Crown Court |
Royal Courts of Justice The Strand London WC2A 2LL
Telephone Clerk: 020 7947 7855 Email Clerk: Ellen.Dean@justice.gov.uk
Website www.judiciary.gov.uk
THE HON. MRS JUSTICE WHIPPLE DBE
In the Central Criminal Court
R v Bernard Rebelo
11 March 2020
1. On 12 April 2015, Eloise Parry died. She was 21 when she died. She was a bright
student, a loved sister and daughter, and a friend to many. I have read her mother’s
moving victim impact statement and I acknowledge the family’s pain in losing Eloise,
or Ella as they called her, so young and so unexpectedly.
2. Eloise had struggled with her mental health for some years. She had experienced
setbacks in her early life which had reduced her mental resilience. When she was 17,
she was diagnosed with bulimia nervosa. When she was 18, she was diagnosed with
emotionally unstable personality disorder. She had depressive episodes. She had
repeatedly self-harmed and had made several attempts on her own life. She was
extremely vulnerable.
3. In this mentally disordered state, she started to take 2, 4 Dinitrophenol, known as
“DNP”.
4. DNP is an extremely toxic substance. It is a yellow powder which was originally used
in making munitions in World War I. It was banned in the USA in 1938, because it
was dangerous and unsafe and not fit for human consumption. In the UK, it is not
licensed as a food or as a medicine, and it cannot therefore lawfully be sold for human
consumption.
5. DNP has a market in the UK, amongst body builders and those who want to lose
weight. That is because DNP can result in weight loss, specifically the loss of fat
surrounding muscles. It is worth noting why that is so: DNP inhibits the process by
which individual cells store energy, so that the body’s temperature rises, which leads
To continue reading
Request your trial