How doctor lover tried to kill my unborn baby

Father-of-two Dr Edward Erin is accused of poisoning Bella Prowse, below
12 April 2012

The married hospital consultant accused of spiking his girlfriend's drinks with abortion drugs had a second mistress, the Old Bailey heard today.

Father-of-two Dr Edward Erin was having an affair with his medical secretary and got her prgenant.

But he was also seeing Malin Roesner, a registrar at the Northwick Park hospital, the court has heard.

Erin is accused of lacing tea, coffee and orange juice in an attempt to force the miscarriage of Bella Prowse after a fling which had begun at a Christmas party.

She told how she broke down after finding suspicious-looking deposits in drinks he made for her and took the evidence to the police.

But today, during cross examination by Clare Montgomery QC, defending, the court heard that Ms Prowse had a history of depression and had researched abortion drugs on the internet.

The 33-year-old secretary also spoke about a fourth woman in Erin's life.

"He spoke about her a lot and I believe they are still in contact," she told the jury. "He said that she had hurt him but he reasured me that he wanted to be with me."

Asked by Ms Montgomery if that had left her "jealous or angry?" she replied: "He had annoyed me. He had sent me a text message which I believed he sent me by mistake and which was supposed to have been sent to her or another female.

"From what the text message said he was seeing someone else but he said he wanted to be me with me."

The court has heard how Erin tried to persuade Ms Prowse to have an abortion after she told him about the baby.

She made two appointments with a private clinic but failed to turn up and the single mother decided she would keep the unborn child.

It is alleged Erin's first attempt at drugging her drinks took place in February when he put something in a cup of earl grey tea at her home in Tulse Hill.

A few days later she found a "pile of powder" at the bottom of a Starbucks decaffeinated latte Erin bought her, and the following day a "white grainy" substance in the juice.

She reported the matters to the police and did not see Erin again before his arrest six days later despite his pleas to meet him.

"He was desperate to see me, but in the end I just said I needed some space," she said.

Erin, a consultant respiratory physician at St Mary's hospital, Paddington, and a clinical research fellow at the Royal Brompton hospital, Chelsea, began the affair with Miss Prowse in December 2007.

He is said to have used the drugs Methotrexate, Diclofenac and Misoprostol, all of which are capable to causing a miscarriage and birth defects.

Erin, of Kensington, denies procuring poisons with intent to procure a miscarriage, and further counts of administering poison with intent to procure a miscarriage and two charges of attempting to administer poison.

The case continues.

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