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A man who crushed an abortion tablet into a pregnant woman’s orange juice, causing her to lose her unborn baby, has been jailed for 12 years.

Stuart Worby, 40, also gave the woman a number of other abortion tablets by blindfolding her and engaging in sexual activity.

The woman, who by law is entitled to lifelong anonymity as a victim of a sexual offense, was fifteen weeks pregnant when she had a miscarriage.

Shortly after they were administered, she started bleeding and became ill in the bathroom, and went to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital after enduring hours of pain and blood loss, and underwent surgery.

She then found messages on Worby’s phone to his friend Wayne Finney saying “it’s working” and “There’s a lot of blood”, which made her realize this was a planned termination.

Edmund Vickers KC, prosecuting, said at the hearing at Norwich Crown Court on Friday that it was “very clear” the woman “wanted to have the baby”.

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In a victim impact statement read to the court by the prosecutor, the woman said she felt she had “failed to protect my baby”.

“This pain will never let me know that this baby could have been my only chance to become a mother in this life,” she said.

She continued: “I haven’t been able to get pregnant and have another baby.”

The woman said she had “gone from fertility clinic to fertility clinic” and that “being a mother was a dream for me.”

Mr Vickers said Worby’s offending was ‘deliberate, well-planned and callous’ and that he was helped to obtain the abortion drugs by his friend’s partner, Nueza Cepeda.

He said Worby paid £470 to make an appointment for Cepeda at a gynecology center in London.

The appointment took place in the summer of 2022 and a prescription was written for the two abortion drugs along with painkillers, the prosecutor said.

Upon his arrest, police found texts on his phone discussing abortion drugs and a Google search for Misoprostol, as well as searches related to whether a baby could survive an abortion.

Worby was found guilty after an earlier trial at Norwich Crown Court of administering poison or using an instrument with intent to cause miscarriage.

He was also found guilty of assault by penetration, and on Friday admitted possession of cannabis that was found when police arrested him.

Sentencing Worby on Friday, Judge Joel Bennathan told him: “You are a selfish man and started aborting the baby without (the woman) knowing.”

He said Worby’s “only mitigation is your previous good character.”

The judge also issued a restraining order, banning Worby from contacting the woman indefinitely, and ordered him to pay her £10,000.

After his sentence was read, Worby asked if he “could say anything.”

When the judge told him he couldn’t, Worby said “Thank you for your time” and was led to the cells.

Cepeda, 39, from Dereham, pleaded guilty to supplying an instrument to induce a miscarriage.

The judge said: ‘I accept that you only became involved in this due to pressure or harassment from Stuart Worby.’

He sentenced the mother of three to 22 months in prison, of which two years were suspended.

He also ordered her to carry out 40 hours of unpaid work.

Simon Spence KC, mitigating for Worby, said it was “ultimately a selfish act”.

Andrew Oliver, mitigating for Cepeda, said the cleaner acted out of “misplaced loyalty to someone who was friends with her partner”.

He said Cepeda had no previous convictions, was “devastated that she played a role in the damage and suffering caused” and “received no financial or other benefits for the role she played”.