Doctor who tried to poison pregnant lover jailed

A senior doctor who tried to poison his pregnant lover's drinks to make her lose her baby, was jailed for six years in London today.

Dr Edward Erin, 44, a consultant hospital doctor and pharmacologist, was found guilty last month of attempting to spike his girlfriend's coffee and an orange juice in February last year to make her have a miscarriage.

London's Old Bailey court was told that Erin, a married father of two, had decided to take action after Bella Prowse, with whom he had had a brief affair, refused to have an abortion.

Judge Richard Hone said Erin was "a flawed character" who had been exposed "as a liar, a cheat and a predator".

Hone said the doctor led a fantasy life which resulted in him betraying his wife and the medical profession, the Press Association reported.

"What you did to Bella Prowse is about as serious a breach of trust for a senior doctor as can be imagined," Hone said.

"One part of you is a doctor caring for his patients. But your other part is self-centred, vainglorious and irresponsible.

"Your property wealth, tailored wardrobe, high lifestyle, illicit weekends and expensive trinkets dazzled those whom you designed to seduce. You are clever, but also devious and dishonest. You inhabited a fantasy world."

In an impact statement read to the court, Prowse said it had had a devastating impact on her life and had brought her close to a nervous breakdown.

"Looked at from the woman's perspective, you intended an invasion of her body, the thinking man's equivalent of an act of violence," the judge said.

Prowse contacted police after becoming suspicious about a powder she found in drinks that the doctor, who worked at St Mary's Hospital in London, had given her.

The first attempted poisoning occurred at a Starbucks shop at London's Paddington rail station where she noticed the lid of a coffee drink Erin had bought her had been removed and replaced.

The next day, he offered her a bottle of orange juice at her place of work and she noticed this time the seal had been broken.

She took the contents of both drinks to the police and tests revealed traces of two drugs which could cause an abortion. Prowse, 33, later gave birth to a healthy baby.

Police said it was only the second offence of its type to have been brought before the courts in the last 40 years.

Erin's lawyer Clare Montgomery told the court his life had been destroyed.

"According to prison law, Dr Erin is a man who is to be attacked in prison," Montgomery said. "His first night was spent with other prisoners screaming threats on his life."

Erin's wife has said she will stand by her husband and was aware of his affairs.

"If she continues to support you, as she says she will, you may think she deserves better than a husband who goes out on the prowl," the judge said.