Several deaths have involved people in the bodybuilding world or those trying to lose weight. Bodybuilder Sean Cleathero, a 28-year-old, died at a hospital in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in October 2012 after taking DNP. In another high-profile case, 23-year-old Sarah Houston tragically died after the medical student consumed a fatal dose of DNP while studying at Leeds University in 2013. In 2007, 26-year-old Selena Walrond, died after having taken DNP in a bid to lose weight. She too bought the deadly pills over the Internet.

In 2018, 31-year-old businessman Bernard Rebelo, from east London, was the first person to be convicted of manslaughter in relation to the sale of DNP pills. Mr Rebelo became a millionaire after selling the ‘weight-loss capsules’ to clients, but he was jailed for seven years after selling them to bulimic student Eloise Parry, who later died.

Reginald Bevan, Deputy Head of the National Food Crime Unit, said: ‘We welcome today’s sentencing as it sends a strong message to anyone seeking to profit from the illegal sale of this life-threatening substance. We continue to be relentless in pursuing and bringing to justice those who are endangering the public and breaking the law. This operation continues to demonstrate how seriously the NFCU takes the illegal sale of DNP for human consumption in the UK and through our close working partnership with local authorities and other law enforcement agencies in the UK and abroad that we are able to tackle offenders, close websites and work to disrupt possible supply routes within and into the UK.’