Court error delays sentencing of NHS worker who tried to kill man in needle stabbing

Darren Harris carried out a murderous plan when he stabbed and injected Northallerton vinyl shop owner Gary Lewis with a debilitating drug on July 2 last year, and failed to help desperate medics who were trying to save his life.

After just an hour-and-a-half of deliberating a jury found Darren Harris, 57, of Amesbury Crescent in Middlesbrough guilty of attempted murder at the end of a one-week trial in January.

Harris was due to be sentenced today (March 13) and was previously warned he faces a lengthy stretch behind bars.

Darren Harris. (Image: NYP) But a judge at Leeds Crown Court said that wouldn’t be possible as a psychiatric report he ordered at the end of the trial had not been completed due to a court error.

His Honour Judge Stephen Phillips told the brief five-minute hearing: “The reason for the delay is unfortunately the court ordered psychiatric report wasn’t actioned.

“That was an error at the court office and the moment I became of that I directed that the case should be listed for mention because I was keen to ensure that those interested in the proceedings, including most obviously the victim Mr Lewis but others, were are of the situation and that it wasn’t simply relisted administratively.”

Victim… Gary Lewis. (Image: Contributor) He will now learn his sentence on April 11. Harris remains in custody.

The probation service will also produce a dangerousness assessment before next month’s hearing.

Judge Phillips added he wished to “convey the apologies of the court that [the case] isn’t able to proceed today and we have had to adjourn it”.

The trial heard how Harris drove from his Middlesbrough home to Zetland Street in Northallerton on July 2 last year, with two syringes and a breathing-stopping drug he had stolen from his workplace at James Cook University Hospital the day before.

James Cook University Hospital, where Harris worked and sourced his attempted murder weapon. (Image: TERRY BLACKBURN) The specialist anaesthetist practitioner went in and out of the Betterdaze vinyl shop owned by former police officer Gary Lewis that morning, buying records and chatting like a “normal friendly customer”.

But he re-entered the shop just after 2.15pm to carry out his “unprovoked” and “indiscriminate” attack, went to the counter to buy another record and leaned and stabbed Mr Lewis in the buttock with a needle as he turned to put money in the till.

Mr Lewis, having been injected with rocuronium – a muscle relaxant usually used alongside general anaesthetic to stop patients moving in surgery, and which patients on need help to breathe – chased Harris out of his shop while shouting for help.

The scene on Zetland Street in Northallerton on July 2, 2024 after Harris tried to murder Gary Lewis. (Image: NORTH NEWS) The shop owner managed to pull a sign into the road to stop Harris making a getaway, and workers nearby rushed to Mr Lewis’ aid. As he lay in the street apparently dying, Harris was repeatedly asked what he had injected him with and replied, “nothing”, then said it was “only water” – a lie he kept up in police interviews.

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Harris could have used his years of experience with anaesthetics in theatres to help his victim and the medics who rushed to his aid, but instead stood like he was “watching a TV programme” while Mr Lewis lay on the cobbles unable to move and struggling to breathe.

He later admitted to the court on the day his trial was due to begin that he did inject a noxious substance into Gary Lewis, but didn’t take to the witness stand to answer questions during the trial. Defending, Mr Sean Smith KC, said Harris had told the jury his intent despite not giving evidence through his guilty plea to the charge of administering a noxious substance.

He was sacked from his job in August 2024, the NHS trust previously confirmed, and said a review of drug storage had taken place failed to say what, if anything, had changed since.