Edinburgh drug-addict doctor admits injecting wife with heroin

Ashley Sibery, 39, persuaded his wife, Sital, to take the class-A drug minutes after she confronted him about his secret drug habit.

Mrs Sibery had decided to confront her husband because of his erratic behaviour, Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told yesterday.

The general practitioner admitted to Mrs Sibery that he had been using the lethal narcotic for two months.

She told him that if he did not quit his addiction then she would end their marriage.

However, despite this ultimatum, Sibery managed to persuade her into taking what was supposed to be his final fix.

The court was told that Sibery had wanted his wife to experience the feeling that he got when he took the drug.

But after the injection, Mrs Sibery collapsed and started having difficulties breathing.

The paramedics who attended their home recognised Sibery as a former accident and emergency doctor and managed to save his wife’s life.

Sibery was then arrested and confessed to police his involvement in the potentially lethal incident.

The story emerged following a hearing in which Sibery, of London Street, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to a charge of

culpable and reckless conduct before Sheriff Elizabeth Jarvie, QC. Depute procurator-fiscal Karen Rollo told the court that the incident took place on 2 April, 2012, at the couple’s home in London Street.

The court heard that before the incident, Sibery worked in the city as a GP.

He qualified as a doctor in 2002 and had once worked in accident and emergency medicine.

Ms Rollo told Sheriff Jarvie that the pair had an argument about how Sibery had been behaving in the months leading up to April.

Mrs Sibery was concerned about how her partner had been acting. She added: “He had admitted to her that he had spent the last two months injecting heroin into himself.

“She issued him with an ultimatum. She told him that he had to stop taking the drugs or their marriage would be over.

“Bizarrely, he asked her if she wanted to try some. He told her that he had a small quantity of heroin remaining in the house and that he would give her it. He wanted her to experience the drug, to see what it was like.

“The heroin was prepared and it was injected into her. Within a few minutes, she collapsed and lost consciousness. She started to have breathing difficulties.

“An ambulance was then called to the house. The paramedics who attended the scene recognised him as being a doctor. They managed to keep her breathing and also stabilised her condition. She was then taken to hospital and received treatment.”

Ms Rollo then told the court that police arrested Sibery and interviewed him at a police station in Edinburgh.

The doctor confessed to them that he had given his wife heroin and that he had an addiction problem.

Ms Rollo added: “The accused indicated that he had a heroin habit. He confessed to them that he had given his wife heroin.

“He told them that he wanted to relax her and deal with stress. He told the officers how she slipped into unconsciousness.”

The court heard that Sibery – who was on bail for the offence – was now in the care of a consultant psychiatrist, who was helping him deal with his problems.

It is expected at that hearing that Sibery’s legal team will attempt to fully explain the reasons behind his behaviour.