Calculating: Dr Edward Erin plotted his former lover's death while behind bars and was today jailed for a further two years
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2159902/Edward-Erin-Poison-trial-doctor-begged-cellmate-murder-pregnant-lover.html#ixzz1y1mRWxmm
A doctor caught plotting revenge after he was jailed for trying to poison his pregnant mistress was today locked up for an additional two years.
Edward Erin asked former cellmate Joe Mallia to kill Bella Prowse and their baby.
He also asked him to steal Bella’s mobile phone and send a text - falsely confessing that she had made up court evidence against the doctor.
Erin, 46, hoped the message would destroy secretary Bella’s credibility as a witness and see him freed on appeal.
But Mr Mallia alerted a newspaper to the plot after he was let out of jail in May 2010.
An investigative reporter arranged for him to secretly tape the jailed doctor during a visit to high-security Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight.
The reporter then handed the damning film to police.
Now Erin, of Watford, Hertfordshire, has been given an additional two years in jail after being convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice by a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court.
In the 55-minute video, Erin dictated the message he wanted sent to Bella’s boss from her mobile.
He told Mr Mallia: 'You say "I can’t live with my life any more. I set Ed up, I put the drugs in the drinks. Ed was the best ever. He’s done nothing wrong but I have lied to the police and the court and I can’t get busted because of my baby. What should I do?".'
Erin thought Bella’s boss would alert police to the text and it would lead to his release from jail. But the plan was never carried out.
Sentencing judge Richard Price today told Erin: 'The plot was never carried out because Malia went to the Press.
'The Press gave Malia a covert recording device which he brought with him on a visit to you in prison.
Victim: Bella Prowse was to be 'killed' by her former lover's cellmate - but the plot quickly unravelled
'Despite that, despite being apparent to everyone that this is what you had done - it is on the video - you nevertheless chose to plead not guilty.
'If the plot had succeeded, the course of justice would have been perverted and your perfectly innocent victim could have been made to look like a liar and perjurer.
'Some would describe the plot as amateurish and cack-handed, with very little chance of success.'
David Bentley, defending, said: 'This is a very serious offence and he recognises that.
'He is someone who has clearly fallen from a significant position in society to where he is now and his situation is not going to get any better.
'It has been a distressing time for him.
'His wife is still very much standing by him and he has two young children who visit as often as they can.
'He has suffered threats and abuse as a result of press coverage of the trial and his time in prison will not be easy.
'Although this was a serious offence, when one looks at the mechanics of what was proven, it was not probably the most sophisticated of plans.'
Mr Mallia had told the court Erin recruited him while they were in London’s Belmarsh Prison.
He said: 'Erin said if Bella was killed he’d be freed and not struck off the General Medical Council.
'He wanted me to do it and kill her baby.
'He knew I was getting out of jail soon and told me if I did it I would never have any financial worries.
'I never intended to kill her and was just stringing him along.'
Married father-of-two Erin - a chest and allergy specialist - was jailed for six years in 2009. The new sentence will run consecutively.
He was convicted of trying to drug Bella - who was pregnant with his son - to induce a miscarriage after she rejected his pleas to have an abortion.
Bella rumbled that Erin was trying to spike her drinks, including putting arthritis drug Methotrexate in her coffee.
Erin - who was set to be freed this year - was caught in the operation led by The Sun reporter Brian Flynn.
Read more: dailymail
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