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Doctor may have spiked his mistress’s drinks to procure miscarriage

Doctor Edward Erin, 44, spiked his mistress’s drinks in an effort to kill their unborn child a court was told.

First he drugged a cup of tea after staying the night at her home in Tulse Hill, south London, the court heard. Prowse spotted a white powdery residue in the cup. Erin claimed it was limescale.

“He said things like ‘Don’t forget to drink your tea’ and ‘Why don’t you drink your tea and I will do the washing up’,” Sean Larkin, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey. “As she drank the tea Miss Prowse noticed a powdery substance. Dr Erin said it was probably limescale. He took the cup and rinsed it out.”

The mistress became suspicious, so she kept cups and some of the contents and later took them to the police which revealed the presence of lethal drugs.

Texts between the Doctor and his secretary Bella Prowse showed how desperate he was that she should have an abortion, the court heard.

She fixed two appointments at a private clinic but failed to attend and refused to terminate the pregnancy.

After his arrest Dr Erin asked officers if he could phone Ms Prowse to ask her to drop the charges.

Dr Erin, 44, was a consultant respiratory physician in a job share with another doctor at the chest and allergy unit at St Mary’s hospital, Paddington and also a clinical research fellow of clinical studies at the Royal Brompton.

He was also a married man with two young children. He started an affair with Ms Prowse, 32, who was his secretary at St Mary’s, in December 2007.

The following month she found she was pregnant and Erin made it clear he wanted a termination but, after long discussion, she refused.

Said Sean Larkin, prosecuting: “He decided to procure her miscarriage. He obtained prescription drugs that had side effects of a miscarriage and on three separate days he put the drugs into her drinks.

“They were in quantities that showed he expected her to take the drinks and the drugs and then miscarry.”

In February last year Erin spent the night at Ms Prowse’s flat in Brixton and in the morning made her a cup of tea “which was unusual,” said Mr Larkin.

“He told her: ‘Don’t forget to drink your tea’ or ‘Why don’t you drink your tea and I will do the washing up.’

“But she noticed a powdery substance. Erin said it was probably limescale and washed the cup out.”

When she took the cup to the police later analysts found a weak trace of methotrexate - which is so harmful to unborn children women are advised not to become pregnant for two years after taking it.

Later that evening Erin’s wife saw him grinding pills in the kitchen and when she challenged him he claimed they were for an experiment at work.

A few days later Erin arranged to meet Ms Prowse at a Starbucks and had the coffees ready when she arrived.

She noticed the lids had been taken off and replaced. Erin repeatedly told her to drink the coffee but, when he was away, she poured the contents into a bottle.

Later analysis showed the presence of methotrexate and another harmful drug, diclofenac.

Erin later invited her into his office and asked if she wanted some orange juice he had in his fridge. The bottle was full but the seal had been broken, the court heard.

Ms Prowse poured the contents into a cup and noticed a powdery substance. When she took the cup to the police diclofenac was found.

Erin was arrested on St Valentine’s Day in his office at the Royal Brompton.

Erin, of Kensington, west London, denies procuring poison to be used with the intention of causing a miscarriage, administering poison to procure a miscarriage, and two charges of attempting to administer poison.

The trial continues.

         

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CDC Targets Vitamin D in Preventing Childhood Asthma

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has identified asthma as the most common chronic childhood illness.  A five-year research study has been launched among pregnant women to determine whether Vitamin D supplements will prevent children from developing asthma.  The Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDARRT) is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

According to recent studies, Vitamin D plays some role in developing an infant’s lungs during the later part of pregnancy.  Children have an increased risk of beig born with asthma if one or both parents have asthma.  Researchers want to determine if the correction of Vitamin D levels prior to or during the pregnancy will lower the rates of asthma in children.

Recent studies have shown that fortification of food and multivitamin intake has not prevented Vitamin D deficiency in children and adults.  Although most pregnant women take prenatal vitamins, pregnant women are at high risk for Vitamin D deficiency.  That risk extends to lactating women and the children they breastfeed.

The lead investigator of the trial, Robert C. Strunk, M.D., wants to know if simply supplementing Vitamin D during pregnancy could impact children’s health by decreasing the prevalence of asthma.  Dr. Strunk is a Washington University pediatric asthma and allergy specialist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

The study targets 870 women nationwide between 10-18 weeks of pregnancy.  The women will be randomly divided into groups.  One group will receive a standard prenatal vitamin containing 400 units of Vitamin D while the other group will receive the same prenatal vitamin and a 4,000-unit vitamin D supplement.  Participants will continue regular obstretrician visits.  Blood and urine samples will be collected, and questionnaires will be completed concerning diet, sunlight exposure, medications and other matters.  The children born will be evaluated at ages 1, 2, and 3 for asthma signs and recurrent wheezing.

Members of the collaborating team on this project include Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Boston University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, as well as Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, located in San Diego.