A British helicopter pilot accused of killing a man during a chemsex party at a farmhouse in Vallgorguina has told Barcelona’s court he feared he was being watched and that people wanted to join the sexual encounter without his consent. The 38-year-old victim died in February 2023 during what prosecutors describe as a drug-fuelled encounter that turned deadly.
During the second session of the jury trial at Barcelona’s Audiencia court, the defendant explained he’d known the victim for five years through an online app as part of a business exchange – the deceased worked as an escort. He admitted that nearly every time they met in Spain, they had sexual relations whilst consuming drugs, specifically GHB and methamphetamine, which the victim obtained and he paid for.
Regarding the trip when the crime occurred, he said they’d agreed he would pay 285 euros for drugs and 300 euros for sexual services. The victim picked him up at Barcelona airport on 16th February 2023, from where they travelled to the Vallgorguina farmhouse. There, he admits he voluntarily consumed methamphetamine and GHB in larger quantities than the deceased – though they’d usually do it together – and at one point noticed a camera recording them, because it had a red pilot light on.
Claims of surveillance during Barcelona chemsex trial
Although this CCTV camera had been installed by the victim for security reasons and he’d switched it off before relations began, the accused insisted he thought their intimate encounter was being broadcast without his knowledge or consent. He described feeling strange after drinking an energy drink and having sex, and that a weird situation occurred in the bathroom where the victim asked if he’d be willing to put on stickers and pink underwear, which he agreed to though feeling uncomfortable.
Once in the living room, he claims the victim grabbed him by the armpits and dragged him to the centre of the room, where he ended up lying on his back. There he heard a very different noise of another man sexually excited, like deep breathing, which made him think perhaps someone was outside the house.
He said it seemed the victim had something in his hands that he was hiding. “I had an internal burning sensation. I suspect the lubricant was mixed with the drug. I got scared because I hadn’t given any consent,” he told the court. After asking why he felt this way if he hadn’t consumed more GHB, he claims the victim left the room and reappeared with medical instruments.
Fatal confrontation unfolds
“The moment he wanted to measure my breathing I started to consider the situation that he’d drugged me without my consent. It was a bizarre proposal. It scared me,” he said. He emphasised he connected all these episodes and started thinking there were people outside the victim’s home who were going to join a sexual situation without his permission and, possibly, whilst he was unconscious. At that moment he thought: “I have to protect myself.”
Therefore, he went to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and, after saying the situation scared him, ordered the victim to move away from the door. However, he claims the victim refused, showed no empathy towards him and began making hand signals like a countdown, which made him believe there were hidden cameras in the living room and that he was communicating with someone outside.
In an attempt to regain control of the situation, he immobilised him and, as the victim tried to break free, he stabbed him – though without remembering how many times or which parts of the body. “My instinct told me I was in serious trouble,” he said. He insisted he was convinced more people were involved in this situation outside that living room.
The prosecution is seeking 19 years in prison for murder with treachery, with a mitigating circumstance for drug consumption. The private prosecution seeks one more year, not appreciating any mitigating circumstances. The prosecution also requests five years’ supervised release once the prison sentence is served, during which he must undergo drug rehabilitation treatment and a sexual education course linked to drug use. In civil liability, they’re requesting 400,000 euros compensation for the deceased’s daughter (who was 9 at the time), 50,000 euros each for the parents and 30,000 euros for his sister.
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