A man has been cleared of manslaughter charges after being accused of poisoning his date’s wine with a substance called Oxycodone. Christopher Downes, 53, was accused of the manslaughter of 55-year-old Kim Harrop, who was found dead at his home on April 22, 2018, following the pair’s first in-person meet-up after hooking up on a dating site. A coroner’s report identified traces of the powerful painkiller in her blood, but following a subsequent trial, jurors at Sheffield Crown Court found him not guilty.
Prosecutors alleged that Mr Downes had “stockpiled” Oxycodone, which doctors had prescribed to his late partner while she suffered from cancer.
They also claimed he had drugged Ms Harrop for “sexual motives” after he brought her back to his chalet on the Humberston Fitties in Grimsby.
The two had previously exchanged messages via an online dating site.
Mr Downes denied stockpiling the drug and said Ms Harrop “must have taken it herself”.
Commenting on the verdict, Humberside police said it accepted the jury’s decision.
In a statement, investigating officer Roger Fell of the service’s Major Crime Team said mother-of-four Ms Harrop’s death caused “untold distress to her family”.
He added: “The verdict of the jury in finding Downes not guilty is one we accept.
“I hope, at least the trial has given Kim’s family some of the answers they have been searching for in the years since her death.”
