Moment shop owner collapses after being injected with lethal drug by nurse in random attack – as wannabe killer jailed
THIS is the moment a dazed shop owner collapsed after being injected with a deadly drug by a nurse who has now been jailed.
Darren Harris, 57, administered a stolen dose of Rocuronium, which is a muscle relaxant used in anaesthetics, into Gary Lewis’ backside.
The victim was left “completely paralysed” by the attack – with shocking video showing him collapse from a chair outside his shop.
As emergency services battled to save Gary’s life, “calm” Harris was repeatedly asked what he had injected him with.
The anaesthetic nurse repeatedly answered “nothing” before telling paramedics and police it was “just water”.
Harris later claimed he injected complete stranger Gary to “give him a fright” and cause some numbing.
But Leeds Crown Court was told Rocuronium is usually given in an operating theatre when the patient is closely monitored and machines help them breathe.
With these aids removed, it could cause a person to stop the breathing muscles from working and cause death.
Harris has now been jailed for a minimum of 15 years after he was found guilty of attempted murder following a trial.
The court heard that motive remains a “complete mystery” but that Harris was “seeking to play God”.
Passing sentence, Judge Simon Phillips, KC, told Harris: “You were murderously intent on bringing Mr Lewis’s heart to stop beating that afternoon.”
Prosecutor Richard Herrmann told the court: “The events of this case involve the manifestation of two of the greatest human fears.
“The first, it involves and out of nowhere, to all intents and purposes completely unprovoked, indiscriminate attack of extreme violence by a complete stranger in plain sight and in broad daylight.
“And the second, it rendered the victim completely paralysed, unable to communicate in any way, even in the slightest of ways, with those who were panicking and those who were trying to save him while at the same time and up to the point he loses consciousness, being able to hear and understand everything that was going on around him.”
Jurors heard Gary had owned and managed his record store in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, for more than 15 years.
Although Harris had been a customer a few days before the horror, nothing had happened to make Gary believe he “harboured murderous intent towards him”.
On July 2 last year, Harris walked into the shop and without warning, stabbed Gary in the buttock with a hypodermic needle.
The specialist nurse had stolen the drug and equipment used in the attack from the James Cook Hospital in Teesside where he worked.
Mr Herrmann said: “It is a matter of great good fortune that the effects of the drug were delayed so Gary Lewis was able to pursue the defendant out of the otherwise empty shop, amongst other things to shout for help and tell those who came to his aid what happened.
“Had he not been able to get out, it is highly probable, and it certainly Gary Lewis’ belief, he would have died alone in his shop behind the counter and in all likelihood with it being put down to natural causes.”
Gary deteriorated rapidly when he left the shop and went into respiratory arrest before falling unconscious.
The court heard he only survived thanks to quick actions from paramedics who performed CPR.
Gary – a former police officer of 30 years’ service – told how he died twice following the “cold-blooded and calculated” attack before being brought back to life.
In a victim impact statement, he said: “Nothing in life prepared me for the sheer terror and panic I felt.
“When I collapsed on the street from the effects of that drug, I lost the ability to move, I lost the ability to speak.
“Although I was actually trying to scream in sheer terror without realising, I realised my breathing was failing, I panicked and I knew I was dying, totally paralysed within two minutes of the attack and I will never recover from that near-death experience.
“To this day after the flashbacks every time I read or hear about an assault or a death, I’m instantly back on that pavement realising that it’s me that’s about to die. He sat there in his car a few feet away from me, the last thing I remember seeing and he watched me die.
“He watched me die and he did nothing.”
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said Harris’ employment was terminated in August 2024.