Drug smuggler jailed for 20 years over rum cocaine death

12.08.10

A drug smuggler was jailed for 20 years for the manslaughter of a taxi driver who died after drinking liquid cocaine from a rum bottle. Lascell Malcolm, 63, was given the bottle of rum by a friend who had no idea of its lethal contents. The bottle had been used to smuggle cocaine into the UK via Gatwick by Martin Newman, from Romford, Essex.

Mr Newman tricked two people into carrying the rum from St Lucia in to the UK. Antoinette Corlis and her friend Michael Lawrence, met Mr Newman as they checked in for their flight. The pair agreed to carry two bottles of the rum after Mr Newman claimed he had exceeded his baggage allowance. But on arrival at Gatwick, Mr Newman was held up by customs officials, and Mr Lawrence, who was due to catch a connecting flight to Switzerland, gave one of the bottles to Ms Corlis.

When Mr Malcolm, a taxi driver from Haringey, north London, refused to accept payment for collecting Ms Corlis, she gave him the bottle as a gift. The following day, Mr Malcolm died of a heart attack caused by cocaine poisoning. He had drunk a shot of the rum with a pint of Guinness hours after receiving it on 25 May last year.

The court heard that 8.7oz (246g) of pure cocaine dissolved in the alcohol, and that just a teaspoon of the liquid could be fatal.The reason for Mr Malcolm's death did not come to light until grieving relatives drank a toast to him after discovering the bottle at his home. Mr Malcolm's nephew, Charles Roach, and friend, Trevor Tugman, spat out the liquid but collapsed a short time later and were both rushed into intensive care at Middlesex Hospital in London.

A jury at Croydon Crown Court took 3 hours to convict Mr Newman. He was jailed for 20 years for manslaughter and 15 years, to run concurrently, for importing cocaine.

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