Danielle Carr-Gomm

Danielle Carr-Gomm died after attending a slapping workshop at Cleeve House in Seend, Wiltshire.

She was diabetic and it was thought that she had been encouraged to stop taking her insulin and that she had fasted for three days.

Her post mortem results were inconclusive but further toxicology tests were requested.

Danielle Carr-Gomm had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1999 and had been desperate to find an alternative treatment. It was said that she had a lifelong fear of needles and so she had opted to take a course of tablets instead and was always keen to find alternative methods for treating her condition and had become interested in alternative and holistic medicines and therapies.

She had later discovered paida lajin therapy which involves patients either slapping themselves or being slapped repeatedly as part of a 'self-healing' process. It was said that the process involved being slapped black and blue, to the point where significant bruising occurred and that that removed toxins from the body.

She had previously attended a lajin course in Bulgaria and had said that the results were totally astonishing and encouraging. In her website blog she had described the therapy, saying that, 'After an initial sharing we began with administering paida on ourselves and on others in pairs or groups of three. At the end of the first session large areas of my body were bruised and blue which indicated that a lot of 'sha' or poisoned blood and toxins had been released'

She also said that she had had painful seizures and had vomited and that 'the most horrible syrupy black stuff' had come up, but that she believed that it had improved her blood sugar readings and so she had planned to attend more workshops. She had also said that after the course she had been able to stop taking her insulin.

She later booked a paida and lajin workshop at Cleeve House on Trowbridge Road in Seend, Melksham that was hosted by a Chinese man and cost £750 for a week session. She booked a course that took place over the week from Saturday 15 October 2016 through to Friday 21 October 2016. However, she was found dead in her hotel room at Cleeve House on 20 October 2016.

The course was advertised as including:

• Paida (slapping techniques).
• Lajin (stretching bench).
• Meditation.
• Xen Jogging.
• Experience sharing.
• Fasting 3 day's.

The course owner was a Beijing-born man who was also a former Wall Street trader who claimed that the repeated slapping and painful stretching on a bench could remove toxins that were causing illness.

It was heard that Danielle Carr-Gomm had stopped taking her insulin after attending her previous course and it was believed that she had stopped taking her insulin and had fasted for three days during the October 2016 course in which she died.

Following her death, three people were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, including the Chinese man and released on bail in November 2016. However, no further action was taken at the time.

It was later heard that in October 2017, the Chinese man was extradited to Australia to face similar charges relating to the death of a six-year-old boy who was also diabetic and who had also been encouraged to stop taking his insulin and to attend a slapping therapy course in Sydney in 2015.

However, on 4 October 2019, a warrant was issued at Salisbury Magistrates’ Court for the arrest of the Chinese man whose registered business address was in California, USA, after the Crown Prosecution Service gave Wiltshire Police permission to charge him with gross negligence manslaughter. It was not clear where the Chinese man was, but his business was registered in the United States and Wiltshire Police said that they would be working with the relevant agencies to ensure he stood trial.

In November 2023 it was reported that the man had been extradited back to the UK and charged with her manslaughter by gross negligence.

It was reported that no further action was to be taken against the other two people that had been initially arrested.

However, her son had called for other people involved with the course to also face justice, including the course promoter and a trustee of The Family Federation of World Peace and Unification, also known as the Moonies, who owned Cleeve House. Danielle Carr-Gomm's son said that the promoter had been profiting from the running of the course and that that didn't sit right with him.

Danielle Carr-Gomm was French and was originally from Issenheim.