Adina Mihai, 31, and Madalin Dumitru, 30, were jailed for 17 years each at Oxford Crown Court on 13 August 2026 after admitting the manslaughter of two men they drugged and robbed, and the poisoning of two further victims who survived. The Romanian nationals, formerly of Ilford, east London, used fake online advertisements for sexual services to lure men to their homes before spiking their drinks with the drug gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) and stealing cash, watches and jewellery while they lay unconscious.
According to a national broadcaster's report, the pair had originally faced murder charges, which prosecutors reduced to manslaughter before they entered their guilty pleas in June 2026. A separate report from a public broadcaster put the total number of offences the court heard evidence on at 19, spanning the deaths of two men and the poisoning of two others who survived.
What happened to Gary Mouat and Malcolm King?
Gary Mouat, 37, director of Oxfordshire glazing firm C N Glass, died in July 2025 after arranging to meet Mihai, who had advertised herself online as a sex worker, at his home in Banbury while his family were away. He was found dead the following day, having been fatally poisoned with GBL, a drug that converts rapidly in the body into the sedative GHB.
Malcolm King, an 80-year-old man from Bagendon near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, died in August 2024 in circumstances that were, at the time, put down to his existing heart condition. It later emerged he had been targeted in the same way, drugged with GBL concealed in alcohol before his gold Rolex watch and cash were stolen.
How did the pair carry out the crime in Banbury?
CCTV captured Dumitru buying wine and cigarettes at a petrol station in Banbury on the night Gary Mouat died — the same bottle of wine Mihai would later share with him. Mihai also filmed what appeared to be an ordinary TikTok video during the car journey to his home, unaware the footage would later be examined as evidence of her presence at the scene.
Detective Inspector Michael Roddy of Thames Valley Police, the senior investigating officer in the case, said officers found two wine glasses and a bottle of wine close to Gary's body, which:
clearly indicated that somebody else had been present with him
How did investigators link the two deaths?
Once Thames Valley Police established that Mihai had poisoned Gary Mouat, the force circulated a national bulletin asking other police forces to share details of unexplained deaths that might match the pattern. Fingerprint and DNA evidence recovered from the Banbury scene was then matched to material from Malcolm King's death in Gloucestershire the previous year.
Gloucestershire Constabulary had initially treated Malcolm's death as non-suspicious because of his chronic heart condition. Detective Inspector Adam Stacey, the senior investigating officer for Gloucestershire Constabulary, explained the thinking at the time:
There was no understanding at that time as to what had caused his heart to fail in that way
The force confirmed the case had been referred to its Professional Standards Department for review, which concluded no further action was required and that there was no need to refer the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Subsequent toxicology testing detected GBL in Malcolm's system, said Roddy, in:
a quantity that could be consistent with the range of volume of that drug that is associated with deaths
He added that the scene at Malcolm's home
