DOCTOR POISON; Guilty.. consultant who tried to kill his lover's unborn baby.

Byline: REBECCA EVANS; EMILY NASH 

SHAMED doctor Edward Erin was behind bars last night after he was found guilty of poisoning his pregnant mistress with drugs designed to cause a miscarriage.

Hospital consultant Erin, 44, spiked secretary Bella Prowse's drinks after she refused to have an abortion.

A judge told the married father of two he faced a custodial sentence and he could potentially be jailed for life.

Erin's wife Dr Lowri Phylip, who still insists her serial-adulterer husband is innocent, said she was astonished the jury had found him guilty.

She said: "Why on earth would the jury want to take the word of a woman who is out for nothing more than revenge?" Bella, 33, who subsequently gave birth to his child and has a 13-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, said: "I am very relieved."

Erin, a wealthy hospital consultant, seemingly devoted to his doctor wife and their two children, in the medical world, was lauded for his pioneering research into nasal allergies.

But behind this was a seedier figure - a serial adulterer who revelled in the sexual freedom of the "open relationship" his wife allowed him. Yet when Erin started an affair with his secretary Bella and she became pregnant, events swiftly spiralled out of control.

During the trial Lowri, 43, had said she was accustomed to her husband's affairs. But she admitted she had not known about Bella.

However, she was aware her husband had a relationships with specialist registrar Dr Malin Roesner, 30, and a woman called Angela, believed to be a medical colleague.

A police source said Erin may have been having affairs with "many more women than those we know about."

Lowri, a microbiologist, said they had an "unconventional and open marriage" but insisted they were happy.

Bella, 33, and senior respiratory physician Erin began an affair at a Christmas party in 2007 - seven months after she started working for him at St Mary's Hospital, West London.

But a month into it, Bella fell pregnant. After she told him, he began to emotionally blackmail her - sending her texts pleading for an abortion.

When she did not, he forged two prescriptions for abortion-inducing drugs and laced her drinks with them.

Bella first became suspicious after she saw yellow powder at the bottom of a cup of tea Erin had made for her after spending the night at her flat in Tulse Hill, south east London.

A few days later, when they met at a coffee shop she noticed the lids of the cups had been removed and replaced. She poured the coffee into a bottle without drinking it.

The following day, he offered her orange juice at work. She did not drink it when she noticed the seal on the bottle was broken. Bella then went to the police who found traces of the drugs and Erin was arrested. It was only after the arrest she learned he was married with two children.

Erin, of Kensington, London, was accused of three charges of administering poison with intent to procure miscarriage.

The jury found him not guilty of one charge of poisoning Bella's tea and failed to reach a verdict on a fourth charge of procuring poison.

Old Bailey Judge Richard Hone told him: "A custodial sentence is virtually inevitable."

CAPTION(S):

AFFAIR Dr Malin Roesner WIFE Dr Phylip is standing by him LOVER Bella Prowse FACING JAIL Dr Edward Erin