Liquid cocaine in smuggler's rum killed taxi driver

A taxi driver died after unwittingly drinking pure liquid cocaine from a rum bottle given to him as a gift, a court heard. Lascell Malcolm, 63, was given the bottle of Bounty Rum by a friend, Antoinette Corlis, after declining payment for a lift home after her Caribbean holiday. She had been given the bottle by a friend, Michael Lawrence, who was carrying it to the UK from St Lucia for acquaintance Martin Newman, Croydon crown court heard. Only Newman, 50, knew there was 246g (8.7oz) of pure cocaine dissolved into the alcohol, the court in south London was told. He allegedly had given two bottles to Lawrence before flying to Gatwick airport, claiming his baggage was overweight. He intended to retrieve the bottles upon arrival, but was detained by Customs officers, the court heard. Lawrence left for a connecting flight to his home in Switzerland, giving one of the bottles to Corlis.

Oliver Glasgow, prosecuting, told the court: "Corlis, unaware of the dangers posed by the defendant's bottle of rum, decided to give it to Lascell Malcolm as a thank you … It was gratefully received. Corlis was only to realise the full import of what she had done when she tried to contact Lascell Malcolm over the following days." Malcolm, a father-of-two from Haringey, north London, had drunk a shot of the rum with a pint of Guinness, hours after Corlis gave him the bottle on 25 May last year. At 4am the next day, he called emergency services telling them he could not walk and had a headache. He was discharged from hospital but later collapsed and died after a heart attack brought on by cocaine poisoning.



The link to the cocaine-laced rum emerged when two friends, visiting Malcolm's house to pay their respects, found the bottle and decided to make a toast. Charles Roach and Trevor Tugman spat out the foul-tasting liquid but were taken to hospital after suffering seizures. Glasgow told the jury: "Subsequent analysis of the contents of the bottle established that 246 grams of cocaine had been dissolved into the rum, which resulted in a mixture of such toxicity that a teaspoonful could kill anyone who consumed it. Had the alcohol and cocaine been separated, the potential wholesale profit that could have resulted from the sale of the cocaine is in the order of £10,000." He told the court that Newman, who was born in St Lucia, had a duty of care to anyone who came into contact with the bottles.

Two other passengers on the Virgin Atlantic flight, Samantha Edwards and Anthony Fessal, had also been tricked into smuggling bottles by Newman, the court heard. Neither knew the true contents. Newman was arrested on 3 June last year and denied drug smuggling, claiming Fessal had asked him to carry alcohol back to the UK for him and that he had refused. Glasgow said Newman believes "he is the victim of an elaborate conspiracy designed to frame him". Newman, of Romford, Essex, denies manslaughter and importing Class A drugs. The hearing continues.