Husband knocked out wife with morphine to check if she was cheating
A HUSBAND and his lover drugged his wife by lacing a drink with morphine in an attempt to discover if she was also having an affair.
Richard Gell was involved in what the judge described as a ‘bizarre ménage à trois’ involving his wife Sarah and his live-in lover Jessica Coote-Sellers.
The controlling husband put his wife to sleep by dissolving a tablet containing morphine in a cup of tea or soft drink so he could gain access to her mobile phone using her fingerprint ID, York Crown Court heard. But the potentially ‘catastrophic’ plot failed because Gell couldn’t prise his wife’s fingers apart to look at the messages on her phone.
She was unaware of what had happened until Coote-Sellers confessed 18 months later after they had both split from Gell.
Gell, 42, and 30-year- old Coote-Sellers admitted a charge of administering a poisonous or noxious substance with intent to injure or aggrieve. Gell was jailed for 18 months and Coote-Sellers for 16 months. Judge Simon Hickey said the plot could have caused an ‘extremely serious reaction’ and a ‘life-changing’ injury.
Prosecutor Michael Bosomworth said Coote-Sellers ‘prepared’ the drug, which she had obtained from a family friend. At one point during the incident in August 2017 Gell sent her a text message saying ‘hurry up’.
Mr Bosomworth said: ‘Neither defendant knew how [the victim] would react or what dose to administer. There could have been catastrophic consequences.’ WhatsApp messages found by police showed Coote- Sellers asked Gell: ‘What’s happening?’ He replied: ‘Nowt. I can’t get any more of this [morphine] into her. I can’t get her hands apart.’
Police also found pictures of the victim fast asleep. He said Mrs Gell, 42, wasn’t harmed from the drugging but later felt ‘ degraded’ when Coote-Sellers told her the truth.
The trio had shared a house ‘intermittently’ in Scarboro ugh, North Yorkshir e , between 2014 and 2017. Both women had young children fathered by Gell and at one stage he was living with both women and the two children. Coote-Sellers kept in touch with Mrs Gell after they split acrimoniously from Gell and she told her: ‘I can tell you something, but it will probably land me with a charge.’
She said Gell had drugged her because he was jealous of a ‘supposed affair’ and wanted to find proof on phone records. ‘This is somewhat hypocritical given the fact that Gell himself was in an adulterous relationship,’ added Mr Bosomworth.
Both were arrested and Coote- Sellers i mmediately owned up. Gell tried to pin the blame on his ex-lover before ultimately pleading guilty.