‘Reckless’ man jailed over toxic diet pills death of woman, 21
A“RECKLESS” and “opportunistic” businessman who dealt online slimming pills which caused the death of young woman with bulimia has been jailed for seven years.
Bernard Rebelo, 32, from Gosport in Hampshire, was twice convicted of killing Eloise Parry, 21, after the Court of Appeal last year ordered a retrial at the Old Bailey.
He had already served almost 10 months in custody before being handed his second sentence yesterday.
Ms Parry, from Shrewsbury in Shropshire, died in April 2015 after taking eight “extremely toxic” pills containing the poisonous Dinitrophenol (DNP), described online as “the devil’s cut agent”.
Ms Parry was a student at Glwyndwr University, Wrexham, at the time.
Rebelo was accused of buying the yellow powder from a chemical factory in China and selling it on, in tablet form, to people around the world, including Ms Parry.
The court previously heard how Ms Parry had been diagnosed with the eating disorder bulimia at the age of 17, and became “psychologically addicted” to the chemical after she started taking it in February 2015.
Side affects of DNP included multiple organ failure, coma and cardiac arrest.
In part of a victim impact statement read to the court, Ms Parry’s mother, Fiona Parry, said her hopes for her daughter had been “destroyed.”
“Eloise had many problems in her life, but I always hoped they would be sorted,” she said. “In the latter part of her life there were positive signs that things were getting better. She was working towards achieving her goals.
“She had plans for the future including travelling and seeing the world, not just a career. When Eloise died, her life was undone and her plans were unravelled. In that moment, my hopes were destroyed.”
Speaking following the sentence, she said: “It all feels unreal. It’s still never a situation you want to find yourself in. It’s overwhelming. If I really stop to think about it, I don’t function.”
She said that the person that would be most affected was her other daughter Rebecca, who had just turned 17 when her sister died.
She said: “At the end of the day, the sentence doesn’t bring Eloise back. She doesn’t get another chance, and as a family we have to go away and live with that.
“There hasn’t just been one victim, to what he [Rebelo] has done. Although I don’t know who they are, there must be many more families.”
Mrs Parry added that she wished that people would “just remember the best” of her daughter.
“I hope they remember the good times, the smiles and the joy she brought to others, she said.
Sentencing Rebelo, Mrs Justice Whipple said that he had shown a “blatant disregard for risk of death” by selling the substance that was “not fit for human consumption”.
“DNP is an extremely toxic substance. It is a yellow powder which was originally used in making munitions in World War One,” she said.
“It was banned in the USA in 1938, because it was dangerous and unsafe and not fit for human consumption. DNP has a market in the UK amongst bodybuilders and those that want to lose weight.
“There is no safe dosage for DNP: even small amounts can have devastating consequences. In consequence, DNP has a staggeringly high mortality rate.”
The judge said that taking DNP was akin to playing “Russian Roulette”, adding: “You don’t know if you are going to live or die. Eloise Parry had a distorted body image and a morbid desire for thinness. She had been a regular customer of yours in the weeks leading up to her death.
“By selling her the DNP, you caused her death – it is that simple.”
Mrs Justice Whipple said that Rebelo had “encouraged” other customers to buy his product using “reckless sales talk”, despite acknowledging the dangers in online posts.
She added that Rebelo had used “dishonest” business methods such as disguising the packages of DNP with false descriptions before selling them.
Rebelo, of Harrow, west London, was sentenced to seven years in prison, minus the 301 days he has already served.