A WORKER at a Carlisle building supply firm was warned he might die after a colleague spiked his energy drink with white spirit.

The distressed victim needed urgent medical attention, including blood tests and a body scan at hospital, with doctors then telling him he would have to wait 72 hours to find out whether there was permanent damage.

The colleague responsible for the 'prank' was Kai Campbell, who was aged 19 at the time of the incident in April 2022. He admitted administering a poison with intent to injure, aggrieve, or annoy.

Prosecutor Ben Stanley described what happened.

The victim had arrived at work at 7.50am, noticing Campbell standing outside a cabin where he [the victim] had left a Monster energy drink. He picked it up and swallowed a mouthful.

The man, who had noticed a strange smell, immediately felt his mouth burning, throwing the can in a bin before rinsing out his mouth with water. 

“He then went to the toilet and was sick,” said Mr Stanley. Asked if he was responsible, Campbell said no. He went home a short time later, saying he felt unwell. Colleagues said the drink can smelled of WD40. 

The victim was taken to hospital for blood tests and a body scan. “He was told at an early stage that there was a risk he could die,” said Mr Stanley. “Following this, [the victim] was told there could be further damage to his throat.”

Fortunately, he made a complete recovery.

CCTV images later showed Campbell, of Garden Street, Carlisle, was in the cabin where the drink was left a few minutes before the victim arrived and drank from it. An analysis showed the drink contained 23mls of white spirit.

A week before the incident, Campbell had done an internet search researching what happens if you drink paint remover.

In a statement, the victim said that he now finds it hard to trust people. He spent a night in hospital and needed to have a camera inserted down his throat to check for potential damage.

Marion Weir, for Campbell, who is now 21, said the defendant was aged only 19 when he committed the offence and his level of maturity at the time was 'significantly less' than would be expected.

“This was clearly a prank which has gone drastically wrong,” said the barrister. Searches on the defendant’s phone revealed he was curious as a result of an internet craze described as “taste-bud testing.”

“Little thought went into what turned out to be the scenario and what could have been a much more serious scenario,” said Miss Weir.

The defendant had not found it easy to fit in with groups of people other than by “playing the role of the clown,” continued the barrister. “Perhaps this occurred in an attempt to do just that.”

Currently in the second year of a plumbing apprenticeship, Campbell had been on a steep learning curve.

Judge Michael Fanning told Campbell: “Two years ago, at a time when you were even more immature than you currently are, you, for some reason, put WD40 or something like it into a drink one of your work colleagues was going to consume.

“Thereafter, until you got to this court, you denied being the person who had done that.”

The judge said the severity of sentence depended on offender’s intent – whether it was to cause injury or simply to annoy the victim.

Commenting on what happened, Judge Fanning said: “You stayed on the sidelines, watching what was unfolding; you didn’t raise the alarm and volunteer what you'd done when it took a turn for the worse…

“You could have helped the hospital work out what the risks were.” That omission was troubling, said the judge.

He noted also the internet craze at the time for so-called “taste-bud challenges.”

Campbell appeared to have inflicted one such challenge on his colleague. “You were the class clown,” continued the judge, remarking on how the defendant’s behaviour at school led to a referral to mental health services.

The judge said: “You certainly wanted to annoy this individual, but you were relatively unconcerned as to the risk and pain.”

Ruling that the defendant could be rehabilitated, Judge Fanning imposed a jail term of 13 months, suspended for two years. The sentence includes 15 rehabilitation activity days, with 100 hours of unpaid work.

He told the defendant: “Learn from this, Mr Campbell. I can’t for the life of me see where this had any element of fun in it… You can’t afford to put yourself in this position again.”