����ý

A senior civil servant spiked his pregnant mistress's drink to try to cause a miscarriage, a court has found.

Married father-of one Darren Burke, who works in the Home Office, crushed up an abortion pill and put it in Laura Slade's glass at her flat.

Ms Slade refused the drink but suffered an unconnected miscarriage weeks later.

Burke, 43, from Windsor, was found guilty of attempting to administer a drug to procure a miscarriage at Isleworth Crown Court on Tuesday.

The civil servant, a deputy director for the emergency services mobile communications programme, was also charged with obtaining mifepristone, a medication used to induce an abortion, with intent.

A jury is still deliberating over its verdict on this count.

The jury heard Ms Slade fell pregnant during the course of a five-year affair with Burke.

Burke then encouraged the mother-of-two to terminate the pregnancy and sent her links to an abortion clinic.

On 4 December 2020, Burke offered Ms Slade a drink that looked like orange juice but was laced with mifepristone.

After she refused Ms Slade said she had found a white powder on the empty glass and called police the following day.

Burke claimed he had crushed up the abortion tablets and flushed them down the sink when it became clear Ms Slade was determined to keep the baby.

Ms Slade suffered an unconnected miscarriage weeks later, the court heard.