Man jailed for drugging and raping unconscious victim

A man who drugged and repeatedly raped another man who became unwell and died has been jailed.

Derek Rowley, 46, and the victim met on the dating app Grindr before taking crystal meth, ketamine and GHB at Rowley's home in Gillingham, Kent, and having sex – known as chemsex.

The sex began as consensual, but Rowley administered drugs to the unconscious 61-year-old victim and raped him while livestreaming it.

At Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday, Rowley was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

CCTV footage from the bedroom showed that Rowley squirted a liquid, believed to be a drug called GHB, into the victim's mouth and continued to have sex with him after he appeared to become unconscious at 17:00 GMT, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

The court also heard how Rowley gave a "thumbs up" to people viewing on a laptop.

An ambulance was called at 21:53. When paramedics arrived, the victim was pronounced dead.

Rowley was found guilty of 11 counts of rape and one count of administering a substance with intent following a trial in November last year.

The victim died from mixed drugs toxicity, the court was told. There was no criminal liability on Rowley for the death of the victim.

Judge Robert Lazarus said Rowley had "complete disregard" for the victim's wellbeing.

"It needs to be said that anybody with a sense of humanity would have called an ambulance as soon as the victim fell into a coma and not proceed to rape him repeatedly over a period of one hour and 20 minutes," he added.

"You wanted to drug the victim to the extent of putting him into a coma and once you did that you wanted to rape him multiple times while livestreaming this."

An impact statement read to the court on behalf of the victim's partner described him as "one of the good guys".

Statements from the victim's family members said what happened to him involved "reckless behaviour" that stripped him of dignity.

Following the sentencing, Kent Police Det Insp Lee Neiles said it was a "disturbing case".

"Rowley exploited the victim in the most appalling way, showing complete disregard for his welfare," he added.

Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.