Senior Home Office civil servant who laced pregnant lover's drink with abortion drugs is jailed
| Published date | 16 June 2022 |
| Publication title | MyLondon (England) |
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Burke, who has been sacked from his Home Office role as deputy director for the emergency services mobile communications programme, was convicted by a jury of unlawfully administering a poison to procure a miscarriage.
Sentencing him at Isleworth Crown Court today Thurs, Judge Alastair Hammerton said: “Your actions in offering to pop over and bring a coffee are examples of your planning. In addition your offence presents a violation of the trust Ms Slade had placed in you. And in addition you committed this offence in Mis Slade’s own home.
“Furthermore your breach of the trust Ms Slade placed in you has adversely affected Ms Slade’s ability to trust others.” In a victim impact statement, Ms Slade said it makes her “feel sick” to think about what could have happened if she had drunk the juice.
Prosecutor Paul Jarvis said: “She started undertaking PTSD therapy in May 2021 to help cope with the betrayal she felt. She talks about how the experience totally changed her approach to people. “She finds it hard to trust people. She tries to think ahead to her future whether she might be ready at some point for a relationship with someone else and finds that difficult to conceive of.
“She trusted him and feels he has let her down massively. She feels like she has lost her best friend and doesn’t think she will get over what he did to her.” Jurors at Isleworth Crown Court heard Ms Slade, a single mother-of-two, told Burke she was pregnant in November 2020 and there was “extensive contact” over Whatsapp.
Burke, of Windsor, Berkshire, sent a link to a local abortion clinic to Ms Slade on Whatsapp and told her: “Babes I understand it’s your body but you can’t keep it. It will be everyone, your kids, my wife, your family, everyone. This is bigger than you and I. I’m asking you please.”
A week later Ms Slade went for a scan and told Burke she would be keeping the baby which led to an “acrimonious” conversation on Whatsapp where he said he did not feel she was taking his...
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