A man who gave orange juice to a woman that he spiked with an abortion-inducing drug has been found guilty of administering a poison to procure a miscarriage. Stuart Worby, 40, crushed a single 200m tablet of mifepristone into the drink on the night of 3 August 2022 without the woman’s knowledge or consent.
He then inserted a number of tablets of misoprostol, another abortion drug, inside the woman after using deception to engage in sexual activity with her.
Within a few hours the woman had a severe physical reaction and was admitted to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital the following day where she miscarried her 15-week-old baby.
At the time she believed the miscarriage was unsuspicious, but later reported Worby to the police and he was arrested on 5 August.
The investigation by Norfolk Police found that Worby had been working with Nueza Cepeda, 39, to obtain the two drugs.
Cepeda pleaded guilty to supplying an instrument to procure a miscarriage, while Cepeda’s boyfriend, Wayne Finney, 41, was found not guilty of intentionally encouraging or assisting others commit a crime.
Worby and Cepeda will be sentenced on 6 December at Norfolk Crown Court.
Nicola Pope from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “This is a heart breaking case involving a woman who wanted to have her baby but was forced to have a miscarriage by Stuart Worby.
“He committed this heinous crime along with Nueza Cepeda, who helped him by illegally obtaining drugs that are used by women seeking an abortion.
“These drugs give women power and control over their bodies – but the victim was forced to take them without her knowledge or consent.
“I thank the jury who have had to listen to some disturbing evidence, our thoughts remain with the victim of this horrific crime.”
The prosecution’s case
Worby pleaded not guilty to the charges against him but the Crown Prosecution Service was able to present evidence that left no doubt as to his guilt.
This included incriminating WhatsApp messages, including one sent by Worby after he had given the pills saying, “It didn’t work bro, can vanessa [another name for Cepeda] get on phone tomorrow and say she needs more. I will pay if necessary. She got cramps etc, then was sick. But it didn’t work.”
There was also CCTV footage from the day before the incident showing Cepeda arriving at a pub with a white envelope containing what the prosecution said were the abortion pills and handing it over to Worby.
Worby’s bank statement showed he paid for Cepeda’s medical consultation that resulted in her obtaining the two drugs.
A gynaecologist gave evidence that simply ingesting mifepristone in the orange juice would not explain the woman’s symptoms or cause the spontaneous miscarriage by itself. She would have had to have ingested misoprostol as well.
A toxicologist explained to the court that police took nail clippings from Worby for forensic testing. The clippings were found to have traces of mifepristone and misoprostol on them.
A post-mortem, including an analysis of chemicals in the baby’s system, found traces of mifepristone.
Worby also changed his story. He initially told police he had not administered any abortion drugs.
But in a subsequent interview he accepted he had obtained an abortion pill with the intention of giving it to the woman but then changed his mind and flushed the tablets down the toilet.
FACT FILE
- Mifepristone and misoprostol are legal medicines that are used to induce a medical abortion. Advice can be found on the NHS website – https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/abortion/what-happens/
- Nicola Pope is a Senior Crown Prosecutor in CPS East of England.
- Stuart Worby (18/10/1984) was found guilty by a jury at Norwich Crown Court on 30 October 2024 of:
- Administering poison or using an instrument with intent to procure a miscarriage, contrary to section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Between 1 July and 5 August 2022 unlawfully administered a poison or other noxious thing, namely Mifepristone and Misoprostol both orally and vaginally with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman.
- Assault by penetration, contrary to section 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. On 3 August 2022 intentionally penetrated the vagina of the victim with part of his body, namely a finger, the circumstances being that the penetration was sexual, the victim did not consent to it, and Stuart Worby did not reasonably believe that the victim consented.
- Nueza Cepeda (dob 11/8/1985) of Walnut Drive, Dereham pleaded guilty to supplying/procuring poison/an instrument to be used with intent to procure a miscarriage, contrary to section 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
- Between 1 July and 5 August 2022 unlawfully procured a poison or other noxious thing, namely Mifepristone and Misoprostol knowing that the same was intended to be unlawfully used or employed with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman.
- Wayne Finney (dob 10/4/1983) was found not guilty of intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, contrary to section 44 of the Serious Crime Act 2007.
