British man dies after drinking smuggled cocaine mixed with rum

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.