Guilty, doctor who poisoned pregnant lover
A MARRIED doctor was behind bars last night for spiking his lover’s drinks with abortion drugs.
Hospital consultant Edward Erin poisoned Bella Prowse’s coffee and orange juice so she would have a miscarriage.
Erin, 44, an expert in respiratory medicine, had pleaded with Ms Prowse to terminate her pregnancy but she refused.
The father-of-two feared the birth of a love child would ruin his life and hatched a plot to kill the baby. He lured Ms Prowse to a coffee shop and offered her a drink laced with powdered drugs.
But she took only a sip after realising Erin had lifted and replaced the lid. She later made herself sick.
The following day, Erin tried again by spiking a bottle of orange juice. Ms Prowse, 33, his secretary at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, west London, noticed the seal had been broken and that powder was floating in the juice.
Hours later, she went to Streatham police station in south London to report her suspicions.
She had kept the coffee and juice and tests revealed traces of two powerful anti-arthritis drugs.
Erin was arrested on St Valentine’s Day last year and later charged with attempting to administer poison. At his home police found a pestle and mortar with traces of the drugs.
Ms Prowse, who embarked on an affair with Erin after a Christmas party, later gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
She told the Old Bailey: “He said he was not ready to have the baby and I didn’t have a choice, that this baby would destroy him. It would kill him. He said he would have to leave work.”
Erin, of Kensington, west London, denied a range of charges but was found guilty yesterday of two counts of attempting to administer a poison to procure a miscarriage.
The jury cleared him of a similar charge relating to a cup of Earl Grey tea but failed to reach a decision on a charge of procuring poisons with intent to bring about a miscarriage.
Judge Richard Hone, QC, remanded Erin in custody until November 16 and ordered pre-sentence reports. The doctor showed no emotion as he was warned jail was “inevitable”.