The person owns a variety of prime eating places within the UK and Spain.
Mayfair restaurateur Vikas Nath leaving Southwark Crown Court docket in January (Picture: PA)
A restaurateur has been discovered responsible of spiking a girl’s drink with a date-rape drug at a Mayfair personal members’ membership in a bid to overpower her for intercourse. Vikas Nath, 63, laced the girl’s spicy margarita with gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) after she left him with the drink within the rooftop backyard bar at Annabel’s. Southwark Crown Court docket heard Nath had grown pissed off with the girl’s obvious reluctance to have intercourse with him previous to the spiking incident, and took GBL in a vanilla extract bottle with him to the membership.
Nath had two bottles of the liquid drug at his Knightsbridge house, in addition to a movement sensor-activated covert digital camera pointed at his mattress. Prosecutors stated his plan was to drug the girl and take her again to his house for intercourse when she had been “overpowered or stupefied”. Nonetheless, eagle-eyed Annabel’s workers noticed Nath utilizing a straw to place GBL into the margarita, and intervened to forestall the girl from consuming it.
On Friday, February 6, Nath was discovered responsible by a jury of trying to manage a substance with intent and possession of a Class B drug.
The businessman, who owns Michelin-starred Benares in Mayfair as a part of a group of prime eating places within the UK and Spain, appeared to the ground because the jury returned its verdicts, and could possibly be seen shaking his head within the dock. He wiped away tears because the choose remanded him in custody till sentencing at a later date, and could possibly be heard saying “That’s bulls***”.
Nath admitted spiking the girl’s drink after he was seen by Annabel’s workers and recorded on the unique members’ membership’s CCTV.
The courtroom heard Nath – after realising he had been “rumbled” – threw the bottle of Madagascar vanilla extract into a bathroom cistern but it surely was later recovered by police.
Bar workers additionally managed to retrieve the spiked drink from the desk, so it might later be examined by police forensics specialists.
Prosecutor Tim Clark KC hailed the swift actions of Annabel’s workers after they seen “slightly unusual actions” by Nath on January 15, 2024. “(They) watched Mr Nath put a straw into (her) drink, sticking his finger excessive”, he stated.
Nath had a small bottle in his hand, and used the straw to “suck up liquid” earlier than dropping the contents into the girl’s drink.
The lady, who had left the desk, was intercepted by workers earlier than she returned to Nath and was informed what was unfolding.
She felt “betrayed” by Nath, she informed the trial, however had initially defended him when workers warned that they believed her drink had been spiked. “I bear in mind vividly defending Mr Nath, saying ‘There is no such thing as a means he might do this’”, she stated.
“I bear in mind sending him a message saying ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s occurring’. As a result of I felt it was my fault. I didn’t need him in hassle, I didn’t imagine it.”
The courtroom heard they’d been involved previous to the Annabel’s incident, together with for lunch conferences at Benares and the Beaverbrook City Home five-star lodge.
She additionally recalled Nath taking her to a burlesque present at Cirque Le Soir, and the courtroom was proven messages through which Nath had truly warned the girl about drinks being spiked.
“I don’t assume I shall be consuming immediately,” she had messaged Nath, after a night out.
Vikas Nath owns a restaurant in Mayfair (Picture: PA)
He replied: “I feel you need to drink, however pay attention to folks round you. My greatest concern final night time was somebody spiking your drink.”
After he was arrested on the membership, Nath admitted spiking the girl’s drink with out her consent, however insisted he had been making an attempt to “loosen up” her slightly than overpower her for intercourse.
He claimed to have obtained GBL to wash the wheel rims of a high-powered automobile, on the recommendation of a buddy, and instructed he himself had drunk a number of the liquid up to now to loosen up.
He additionally claimed to have “hugged and kissed” the girl, however she denied this and informed the courtroom their relationship had not been sexual.
In texts proven to the jury, Nath had described the girl to a buddy as “eminently f***in a position”, stated of their friendship “I wish to get laid, not maintain arms”, and instructed he would wish to “play the lengthy sport”.
On the day of the spiking incident, he wrote: “I’m at Annabel’s. That is most likely the final night with (her). She ain’t biting.”
Within the witness field, Nath broke down in tears as he admitted spiking the drink had been “incorrect”.
“I remorse it very deeply”, he stated, but additionally stated he had not been interested by intercourse on the time.
He stated GBL heightened the consequences of alcohol, and stated he himself had ingested the drug earlier than they went to Annabel’s.
He additionally stated that he didn’t realise the substance was an unlawful drug.
After the responsible verdicts, Timothy Greaves, from the CPS, stated: “Vikas Nath intentionally spiked a girl’s drink with out her data with the intention of incapacitating her so he might sexually assault her.
“Fortunately, alert bar workers witnessed what he was doing and had been in a position to warn the sufferer that her drink had been tampered with earlier than calling the police.
“Regardless of his makes an attempt to cover proof and deny his intentions, we labored carefully with the Metropolitan Police to construct a robust case to current at trial, ensuing within the jury discovering him responsible.
“Spiking is an extremely severe offence that leaves victims traumatised and fearful.
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“Whereas these offences can usually go undetected, the CPS is obvious that offenders like Nath will face the total extent of the legislation so we will ship the justice victims deserve.”
An additional listening to in Nath’s case has been scheduled for February 16.
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