Cola spike man has sentence cut

A man who left children alone with a bottle of cola spiked with a dangerous drug has had his prison sentence cut.

A two-year-old boy had to be saved by doctors and a 15 year-old girl also fell ill after drinking from the bottle at a house in Caldercruix, Lanarkshire.

Kevin Duffin, 28, was jailed for 30 months after admitting culpable and reckless conduct earlier this year.

But judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled it should be cut to 22 months in the "unusual case."

The court heard that the drug, an opiate substitute called Suboxone, had been dissolved in the fizzy drink by someone else.

During a hearing at Airdrie Sheriff Court earlier this year, Duffin admitted putting the children in danger by leaving them alone with it.

But he appealed against the length of the sentence imposed on him, claiming it was excessive.

"He clearly had no intention to harm the children"
Clare Mitchell
Defence counsel

Defence counsel Claire Mitchell said it was accepted that Duffin did not put the drugs in the bottle.

She told the appeal court that he was now drug free and added: "He clearly had no intention to harm the children."

Lord Reed, who heard the appeal with Lord Menzies, said: "Duffin's responsibility resides in his being an adult who left the house, knowing what the bottle contained, in a situation where there was plainly a risk children would drink from it."

The judge said one of the child victims could have died, but had his life saved by medical staff at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow.

Lord Reed said the case was unusual in its facts, with no other similar Scottish cases to refer to.

He said taking into account that Duffin was not the person primarily responsible for what happened, they had reached the view that the sheriff's original sentence was too high.

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