Dental nurse ‘put mercury in boss’s coffee in revenge for complaints about her work'

- X-ray showed ‘speckles of metal’ inside woman's stomach- Kaur left patient in dentist’s chair while she went for lunch, court told
P1 Ravinder Kaur
Central News
Lindsay Watling30 April 2013
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A dental nurse poisoned her boss by putting mercury used to make fillings in a cup of coffee in revenge over complaints about her work, a court heard today.

Ravinder Kaur, 34, allegedly put the mercury amalgam into Laura Knowles’s drink on March 16 last year after receiving two warnings about her conduct.

Ms Knowles noticed an odd taste and when she poured the coffee away saw a grey sludge at the bottom of the cup, a jury was told. She started to feel sick and suffered stomach cramps.

She went to hospital and an X-ray revealed “speckles of metal” in her lower intestine.

The “grey sludge” contained a mixture of silver, copper, tin and mercury used to make fillings.

Samantha Cohen, prosecuting, told Blackfriars crown court that Kaur did it “out of spite or revenge because she believed she had been treated unfairly at work by Ms Knowles”. The court heard that Kaur had started work at the Shefford medical centre in Bedford as an assistant dental nurse in November 2011.

At first Ms Knowles, the practice manager in the dental wing of the centre, had found her “meticulous and professional” but later began to regard her as “inflexible” and not a team player.

Ms Cohen added: “She was starting to cause real problems within the practice and had to be warned about her behaviour.”

Kaur, of Bedford, denies one charge of administering poison or a noxious substance with intent.

In January of last year, Kaur was given a verbal warning for “ordering her equals at work about” after presenting her co-workers with documents to read in advance of an inspection without being asked to. The following March she was given a written warning after making a complaint about one of the practice dentists to the Care Quality Commission accusing her of breaching patient confidentiality, an allegation she denied.

The court also heard Kaur had left a patient in the dentist’s chair when it was time for lunch.

Describing the run-up to the alleged incident, Ms Cohen said: “Ms Kaur came into the reception and offered to make a drink. Ms Knowles said, ‘Yes please she would like a coffee’ so Ms Kaur went off up the corridor into the staff room to make one. She returned about 15 minutes later. She apologised for how long it took to make saying she had had to change the water in the kettle. Ms Knowles took a drink of coffee. She drank a little bit, but it didn’t taste right and she was worried Ms Kaur had spat in it.

“That was her initial concern, bearing in mind three days earlier she had issued a warning, essentially a final warning, to Ms Kaur. She went to hospital and an X-ray was taken of her stomach that afternoon.”

When confronted about the allegation by police, Kaur, who had received training in the safe storage and handling of mercury, denied she had put anything in the drink.

She claimed she had been “set up” during the time she was out of the staff room preparing a surgery while the kettle was boiling.

Mercury amalgam is traditionally used to produce fillings in the dental industry.

Mercury poisoning can cause brain, kidney and lung damage. Symptoms include a lack of coordination and impairment of vision, hearing and speech.

The trial continues.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in