By Grâçia Ada Obi
Two men who drugged, raped and murdered a young dad in Fife have been jailed for life.
Dylan Brister, 27, and Cameron Allan, 21, spiked Calum Simpson’s drink, which left him unconscious at a property in Methill in November 2021.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard the pair then subjected their victim to a serious sexual assault, which they recorded on a phone.
Mr Simpson, 24, died from intoxication caused by the Class C drug Etizolam – commonly found in ‘street Valium’ – and alcohol.
Brister and Allan were found guilty on July 19, 2024, following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
The court heard that Allan and Brister had been seeking to recruit a man to make up a threesome with them, but efforts to find a participant failed.
Allan was searching on the gay dating app Grindr, but Brister was aware of the plan, which involved seeking a “submissive.”
At the sentencing at the High Court in Dundee, Lord Harrower told the pair: “You were each aware of the inherent dangers of so-called “street valium.” You knew that Calum Simpson would have been particularly vulnerable through his own lack of tolerance and having been already under the influence of alcohol.
“At trial each of you blamed the other for administering the drugs.
“But it was clear from the evidence that you were jointly engaged in a plan to make sure – as you, Mr Allan, put it at the time – that Calum Simpson didn’t get up.
“Whether or not you intended to kill Calum Simpson, you each revealed yourselves to be completely indifferent as to whether he lived or died.
“As a result, the jury would have been entitled to conclude that you displayed such a degree of wicked recklessness that what you did amounted to murder.
“But it was clear from the evidence that you were jointly engaged in a plan to make sure – as you, Mr Allan, put it at the time – that Calum Simpson didn’t get up. Whether or not you intended to kill Calum Simpson, you each revealed yourselves to be completely indifferent as to whether he lived or died.”
Brister was ordered to serve a minimum of 23 years in custody.
Allan was sentenced to a minimum of 19 years imprisonment, and both have been added to the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.
Moira Orr, who leads on Homicide and Major Crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “The depraved and predatory actions of Dylan Brister and Cameron Allan have robbed a family of their loving son, father, partner, nephew and grandson.
“They showed a blatant disregard for their victim’s safety and life by spiking his drink with drugs before subjecting him to the most harrowing sexual abuse.
Mr Simpson arrived at the house with a friend who knew the pair but was otherwise a complete stranger.
He was caused to ingest tablets containing Etizolam in alcoholic drinks without his knowledge or consent, resulting in him losing consciousness.
During the trial, the pair tried to blame each other for spiking drinks with the controlled drug, which is commonly found in so-called “street Valium” but is up to ten times more potent than diazepam.
When he fell unconscious, Mr Simpson was sexually assaulted and raped while his wrists were bound with rope.
Brister and Allan made several video recordings of their activities on a mobile phone but managed to delete them before the phone could be examined.
When being interviewed by police later that day, they insisted that Mr Simposon had been awake, conscious and consenting throughout.
One of the deleted videos, taken at 2.45am, recovered by Police Scotland’s specialist cybercrime unit showed that it would have been obvious at the time that the victim was profoundly sedated while they were carrying out acts of sexual abuse.
They then failed to call emergency services until 12pm the following day after leaving the victim unconscious.
At the sentencing at the High Court in Dundee, Lord Harrower told the pair: “You were each aware of the inherent dangers of so-called “street valium”. You knew that Calum Simpson would have been particularly vulnerable through his own lack of tolerance and having been already under the influence of alcohol.
“At trial each of you blamed the other for administering the drugs.
“But it was clear from the evidence that you were jointly engaged in a plan to make sure – as you, Mr Allan, put it at the time – that Calum Simpson didn’t get up.
“Whether or not you intended to kill Calum Simpson, you each revealed yourselves to be completely indifferent as to whether he lived or died.
“As a result, the jury would have been entitled to conclude that you displayed such a degree of wicked recklessness that what you did amounted to murder.
“But it was clear from the evidence that you were jointly engaged in a plan to make sure – as you, Mr Allan, put it at the time – that Calum Simpson didn’t get up. Whether or not you intended to kill Calum Simpson, you each revealed yourselves to be completely indifferent as to whether he lived or died.”
Brister was ordered to serve a minimum of 23 years in custody.
Allan was sentenced to a minimum of 19 years imprisonment, and both have been added to the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.
Moira Orr, who leads on homicide and major crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “The depraved and predatory actions of Dylan Brister and Cameron Allan have robbed a family of their loving son, father, partner, nephew and grandson.
