Man guilty of manslaughter over death of Eloise Parry from toxic slimming pills
A man has today been found guilty of manslaughter after a Shrewsbury student bought toxic slimming pills online.
Bernard Rebelo, 31, from Gosport in Hampshire, was this afternoon found guilty at Inner London Crown Court of two counts of manslaughter and one of placing unsafe food on the market.
Eloise Parry, 21, died at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on 12 April 2015 after taking eight diet pills which contained the highly toxic chemical dinitrophenol.
Dinitrophenol (DNP) is a chemical used in pesticides and is not fit for human consumption.
The trial heard that depending on a person’s body weight, as little as 200mg of DNP can be lethal.
Eloise is thought to have purchased DNP on more than one occasion from the internet in the belief that it would help her to lose weight.
After her death, West Mercia Police launched an investigation to ascertain how and where the pills containing the harmful substance were sold and advertised.
Rebelo admitted while giving evidence during the trial that he sold DNP to Miss Parry and that a warning on his website stated that the substance was not for human consumption.
Rebelo's girlfriend Mary Roberts, 32, was cleared by the jury of one count of money laundering after she was accused of transferring £20,000 for and on behalf of Rebelo.
Rebelo will be sentenced on Friday.
