Couple Jailed for Drugging and Killing Two Men
Adina Mihai and Madalin Dumitru were each sentenced to 17 years in prison Wednesday after admitting the manslaughter of two men whose drinks they spiked with the sedative GBL.
- 4 men had their drinks spiked; 2 died, 2 survived.
- Malcolm King, 80, died in August 2024 at his £4 million Cotswolds home.
- Gary Mouat, 37, died July 13, 2025, at his home in Banbury, Oxfordshire.
- Victims paid roughly £170 an hour through the Vivastreet classified site.
Why it matters: Prosecuting barrister Julian Evans KC told the court the pair's motive was theft, not killing — they relied on victims being unwilling to report the crimes to police.
- Mrs Justice Brunner KC said the amount of GBL given to each victim was "haphazard" and created a high risk of serious injury or death.
- King's death was initially treated as natural; Mouat's death prompted Thames Valley Police to issue a national alert, leading Gloucestershire Police to reopen the King case.
How 7 sources split on this story
Center coverage, 3 sources: The center focuses on the criminal method and sentencing, foregrounding victim impact statements and the court's finding that reckless GBL dosing made death foreseeable.
Right coverage, 2 sources: The right emphasizes the victims' wealth and identities — describing King as a millionaire big-game hunter with a £4 million estate — and highlights the pair's Romanian origin early in coverage.
What’s next: Police say they are not ruling out additional victims but have linked no other deaths to the pair.
- Mihai left fingerprints and DNA at both death scenes, linking the cases.
- Whether investigators will identify further victims connected to the pair's scheme.
- What total value of property the pair stole across all four incidents remains unknown.