Doctor jailed for poisoning pregnant lover's drinks

(PA handout)

Married hospital consultant Dr Edward Erin was jailed for six years today for spiking his pregnant lover's drinks to make her lose her baby.

He was found guilty last month of spiking Bella Prowse's coffee and orange juice to make her miscarry.

But Miss Prowse, 33, spotted that her drinks had been tampered with and took them to the police, the Old Bailey heard.

Tests showed they contained drugs which induced abortion. Miss Prowse later gave birth to a healthy boy, Ernie.

Now father-of-two Erin, 44, of Kensington, west London, faces the end of his high-flying career.

Last month a jury found him guilty of two charges of attempting to administer poison to procure an abortion.

He was cleared of administering poison in a cup of tea which she drank, and the jury could not agree on a charge that he obtained the drugs without Miss Prowse's knowledge.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it would not seek a retrial on that charge.

Hospital secretary Miss Prowse said later said: "Ed has done this evil, horrible thing to me but Ernie has nothing to do with him. In my mind, they're completely separate.

Although Ernie is blue-eyed and blond-haired while Dr Erin has dark looks, Miss Prowse insists he is the father.

Erin has provided DNA for a paternity test but the results are not yet known.

Erin's wife, microbiologist Dr Lowri Erin, said she would stand by her husband after the verdict and did not believe he was guilty.

She said: "How can the jury take the word of a woman out for revenge against that of a doctor of good character who has done nothing but help people all his life?"

But the jury heard that Erin was a serial philanderer who dated women as if he were still a bachelor.

His brief romance with Miss Prowse started at an office Christmas party in December 2007.

A month later, she found she was pregnant. Erin, who thought she was on the Pill, begged her to have an abortion.

But Miss Prowse felt guilty about an earlier termination she had in 2002, and cancelled appointments at a clinic.

Erin was thrown into a panic, trying desperately to get her not to go ahead with the pregnancy.

Miss Prowse, who has a daughter from a previous relationship, told the court: "He said we could not have a baby. He was not ready to have a baby.

"If I had a baby, it would destroy him. He said it would kill him and that he would have to leave work."

He had sent her texts including one which said: "I am in a very dark place, love. I want to die but that would be too selfish."

Erin wrote a prescription for anti-inflammatory, abortion inducing drugs, made out in the name of his German teacher, the court heard.

He ground up the tablets at his flat on February 2, where his wife saw him but was told he was doing it for work.

After a short trip to America, he laced the drinks on February 7 and 8 last year.

He put powder in her Starbucks coffee but she noticed it had been opened.

The following day, he put some in orange juice at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, where they both worked, but she noticed the seal was broken.

He was arrested on February 14, last year, after Miss Prowse went to police.

Erin said he got the drugs without intending to use them and only after discussing it with Miss Prowse.

Erin, a chest specialist at St Mary's and a research fellow at the Royal Brompton Hospital, west London, denied the allegations against him.

Detective Chief Inspector Mickey Gallagher said: "Edward Erin is a consultant physician, pharmacologist and honorary senior lecturer.

"He has been a medical professional for over 20 years, yet, having failed to persuade his girlfriend, Bella Prowse, to have an abortion, he has abused his profession and position of trust, used his medical knowledge to try and bring on a miscarriage.

"This was not a morality trial, but the nature of this case is unusual in that it is only the second of its type to be brought before the courts in the last 40 years."

Kosher baker Gil Magira was jailed for three years and nine months last year after pleading guilty to putting drugs into his wife's food to unsuccessfully induce a miscarriage.

Erin has been banned from working with patients by the General Medical Council pending the outcome of the case.