Darren Harris, an anaesthetist practitioner, stalked his victim for several hours as he came in and out of his record shop looking for the perfect time to stab him with a debilitating drug.
The 58-year stole rocuronium – a muscle relaxant usually used alongside general anaesthetic – from his work place the day before he almost fatally attacked Gary Lewis.
Leeds Crown Court heard how Harris stood by and watched the 65-year-old slowly slip into unconsciousness without lifting a hand to help.
Gary Lewis (Image: BBC pooled copy)
Richard Herrmann KC, prosecuting, said Harris refused to tell medics and police what he had injected into his victim as they battled to save his life.
He said: “By not being prepared to admit what he had done, the defendant, a highly experienced medical practitioner, refused to assist in the lifesaving efforts. Let alone use his own skills, rather than stand back watching Gary Lewis effectively dying in front of him as if he was watching a TV show.”
The barrister told the judge that Harris was ‘seeking to play God’ if the attack was completely motiveless.
The 58-year-old had driven from his home on Amesbury Crescent in Middlesbrough to Zetland Street in Northallerton on July 2 last year before carrying out the attack.
Mr Herrmann said the defendant continues to say what his motivation was but he had visited the Northallerton shop four weeks for the attack to identify a ‘vulnerable’ target.
He added: “It was an offence characterised by planning and pre-meditation, including a visit to the shop four-weeks earlier identifying an isolated and vulnerable target in a quiet location, who but for very good fortune would have become incapacitated in his shop, left by the defendant to die alone.”
Watch: Gary Lewis speaking of the impact on his life
In a victim impact statement, shop owner, who spent three decades working as a police officer, said: “I was violently assaulted without provocation and in the most cold-blooded, calculated, pre-meditated way when I was injected with a lethal substance.
“This attack caused a cardiac arrest; I died in the street outside my shop.”
He added: “Standing back and doing nothing, demonstrated an exceptional level of cruelty and malevolence. He watched me lose consciousness, he watched me die and he did nothing to help.”
The court heard how it would have been likely that Mr Lewis’s death would have been recorded as natural causes if he had collapsed and died inside his shop.
Sean Smith KC, mitigating, said his client has been diagnosed with a depressive condition since his arrest and he had now issued a ‘heartfelt’ apology to his victim.
He added: “His acts have robbed him of his good character. More importantly, robbed his wife and family of his support in the future.”
Harris, of Amesbury Crescent, Middlesbrough, was found guilty to attempted murder following a five-day trial in January.
Judge Stephen Phillips KC sentenced the 58-year-old to a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 years in custody for the ‘appallingly cruel and cowardly attack’.
He said Harris told a ‘wicked’ lie when he told his victim that he had injected him with water rather than the rocuronium he had used on him.
“You chose to carry out this appallingly cruel and cowardly attack because it was in your power to do so,” he said.
“I have no doubt that Mr Lewis would have gone into respiratory arrest and later a cardiac arrest. His death would have been put down to a cardiac arrest.”
