She says he had wanted her to terminate baby she lost on Christmas Day
Darren Burke. Picture: Facebook
A civil servant is in court facing a charge that he tried to make a woman from Chiswick have a miscarriage.
Darren Burke, who works for the Home Office on an emergency services mobile communications programme, has been accused of accused of unlawfully supplying a poison to procure miscarriage and procuring miscarriage by poison.
The 43-year-old from Windsor, who is married to another woman with whom he has a child, was in a relationship with Laura Slade.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the couple had known each other for 15 years but had begun an affair in 2020.
When she became pregnant, Miss Slade decided she wished to keep the baby but she says Mr Burke had told her to get a termination because, if his wife found out, it would 'destroy his life'.
Miss Slade is alleging that he crushed up mifepristone pills, a medication which is prescribed by doctors to bring about abortions in the early stages of pregnancy, and gave them to her in a drink.
Mr Burke says that he had bought the pills for Miss Slade in case she ever had need of them.
The newspaper relates that on the evening of 4 December 2020, he came to Miss Slade's flat in Chiswick and went into the kitchen returning with a glass of orange juice. Miss Slade says that after drinking the juice she noticed a powdery resident at the bottom of the glass which she took to police the following day. Analysis confirmed that it was Mifepristone . Three weeks later she miscarried on Christmas Day. Mr Burke was arrested in February 2021.
Mr Burke has been given bail and a date is yet to be set for a trial at Isleworth Crown Court.
Value Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
April 27, 2022
