Mother denies killing son by squirting morphine into his mouth during drinking session

Marianne Willoughby, 50, charged with manslaughter by an unlawful act, joined her 25-year-old son Christopher Rowley-Goodchild on the evening of June 23, 2013, as he drank beers with a friend.

She is alleged to have offered morphine to them both.

Although his friend, Kirk Ugle, now 25, said Mr Rowley-Goodchild was not usually one to take drugs, they both accepted the offer and took dosages of the medication at the home in Thames Street, Weybridge, the court heard.

Mr Rowley-Goodchild later died after taking four or five 10mg dosages and passing out, it was alleged.

Toxicology results showed he died as a result of morphine and alcohol intoxication.

Christopher Rowley-Goodchild was found dead at the house in Thames Street, Weybridge

Mr Ugle said Mrs Willoughby brought up the topic of the oramorph [liquid morphine] she had been prescribed after a knee operation, with a suggestion they could use it.

He said: "She said that she hadn’t been really using it. I think that she had been saving it for a rainy day."

John O’Higgins, for the prosecution, asked: "Can you remember who mentioned or suggested that you could take some?"

Mr Ugle told the court it was Mrs Willoughby. He said: "Christopher asked me if I wanted to take it and I said 'yes'. As I say, he wasn’t one for drugs. It was odd to me that he seemed quite up for the idea."

He thought Mr Rowley-Goodchild perhaps thought the oramorph was more like cough medicine.

He said Mrs Willoughby, who has pleaded not guilty, brought a full bottle of oramorph to her son’s bedroom, checked the instructions on the bottle and used a syringe to take up a 10mg dose, before squirting it into their mouths.

Speaking of the pair’s relationship, while giving evidence at Guildford Crown Court on Monday, February 16, Mr Ugle said mother and son were very close.

He said: "She loved her son very much. The reason she read the back of the bottle was out of caution."

Mr Rowley-Goodchild was reported to have passed out quite suddenly after a few doses and started snoring very loudly.

After some time Mr Ugle and Mrs Willoughby noticed he was cold and no longer snoring. They called an ambulance at about 4.20am.

When the ambulance arrived paramedics found Mr Ugle carrying out chest compressions on an unresponsive Mr Rowley-Goodchild, and Mrs Willoughby in a hysterical state.

Her son was eventually pronounced dead.

Concern was voiced to police that it was a suspicious death and both Mrs Willoughby and Mr Ugle were arrested, the court heard.

Mr Ugle was later released without charge.

Graham Trembeth, for the defence, highlighted Mr Ugle's failure to directly state in his first statement to the police if Mrs Willoughby squirted the morphine into their mouths herself.

Following this, the defence asserts that, while Mrs Willoughby provided the oramorph, each participant squirted the drugs into their mouths themselves.

The trial continues.