A two-timing doctor is facing a jail term after being convicted of attempting to spike his pregnant lover's drinks to make her lose her baby.
A two-timing doctor is facing a jail term after being convicted of attempting to spike his pregnant lover's drinks to make her lose her baby.
Married hospital consultant Dr Edward Erin was found guilty of two charges of attempting to spike Bella Prowse's Starbucks coffee and orange juice.
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The court was told Prowse (33) became suspicious and did not consume the drinks, which were later found to contain abortion-inducing drugs.
Prowse, who was in the public gallery, sobbed as she waited for the verdicts and buried her head in her lap. Her friends clapped when the guilty verdicts were announced.
Father-of-two Erin was found guilty by the jury of six women and five men of attempting to spike the coffee and for attempting to spike the orange juice.
Judge Richard Hone told Erin, "A custodial sentence is virtually inevitable." Erin showed no emotion as he was led to the cells. Hospital secretary Prowse was said to have become pregnant after a brief affair with the doctor following a Christmas party.
After refusing his pleas to have an abortion, she went to police, claiming he had tried to drug her.
She said she had seen a pale yellow powder at the bottom of the cup on February 2. A test showed traces of a drug in the cup and in her system.
But a prosecution forensic expert told the court the drug would have passed out of her body by the time she went to police a week later.
Prowse gave birth to a healthy son in September last year. Erin had denied the charges, claiming to have only got the drugs after being urged to by Miss Prowse, and only to demonstrate that they were impractical to use.