Stuart Worby, 40, from Dereham, Norfolk, crushed a mifepristone tablet into the woman’s drink and later inserted another abortion drug into her after sexually assaulting her while she was blindfolded.
Within hours, the woman experienced severe physical symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and bleeding. She was 15 weeks pregnant when the miscarriage occurred.
Despite her condition, Worby initially refused to take her to the hospital but eventually did so. The next day, the woman lost her baby. During this time, Worby texted a friend saying, “it’s working” and “there is lots of blood.”
In a victim impact statement, the woman expressed the deep sorrow she felt, stating she had “failed to protect my baby” and revealing the emotional pain of losing what could have been her only chance to become a mother. She also shared that her fertility had been a long-held dream, and after the miscarriage, she had been unable to conceive again.
Worby had obtained the abortion drugs by persuading a friend’s partner to falsely claim she was pregnant and receive the prescriptions. He then carried out the act without the woman’s knowledge in what prosecutors described as “deliberate, well-planned, and callous.”
The court sentenced Worby to 12 years for procuring a miscarriage and eight years concurrently for sexual assault by penetration. He was also ordered to pay £10,000 in compensation to the victim.
Nueza Cepeda, 39, from Dereham, who helped procure the drugs, was sentenced to 22 months in prison, suspended for two years. Her partner, Wayne Finney, 41, was found not guilty of encouraging the crime.
The woman expressed her lasting grief over the loss of her baby, stating that the pain of failing to protect her child would never leave her. She also revealed that, after being diagnosed with ovarian deficiency, she had been unable to have children since the miscarriage.
