No other needle attack victims identified - police

No other victims have been identified in connection with a seemingly unmotivated needle attack on a record shop owner, police have said.

Gary Lewis, 65, almost died when he was injected with a powerful muscle relaxant by 58-year-old nurse Darren Harris at his Betterdaze store in Northallerton on 2 July last year.

Harris, who was jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years for attempted murder, offered no explanation for the attack.

North Yorkshire Police confirmed a line of inquiry had been followed to establish whether Harris had attacked other people, but no further victims were found.

Harris, from Middlesbrough, had been a nurse for 24 years and got the drug he injected into Mr Lewis from his workplace at the town's James Cook Hospital.

Following a trial at Leeds Crown Court in January, Harris was sentenced on 11 April.

In a police interview Harris claimed he had been pushed out of the shop by Mr Lewis following an argument.

CCTV footage showed no such altercation took place and no other motive for the attack has been put forward.

Mr Lewis said he was baffled as to why he was targeted.

"It leaves you with the quandary, sometimes bordering on paranoia, about why somebody would go to those lengths," he said.

Mr Lewis said he believed if he had not left his shop after being injected, his cardiac arrest would not have been revealed as attempted murder.

"The drug clears your system, which is why I would have died if I'd stayed in the shop," he said.

"It would have disappeared and nobody would have looked for a pin prick, it would have been put down as a cardiac arrest."

A police spokesman said Harris had been jailed after a "detailed and methodical investigation" by officers.

"A line of enquiry was established to understand if there were any further victims connected to Harris, but no other victims have been identified," they said.

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