Spurned nurse in negligee held her surgeon ex-lover in hotel with knife
A JILTED mistress triggered an armed stand-off in her married ex-lover’s hotel room after tricking her way inside while he was out and lying in wait for him on his bed wearing a negligee.
Nurse Dawn Brookfield persuaded hotel staff to let her into consultant neurologist Giles Elrington’s room, then laid out presents and bottles of champagne.
But a court heard that when Mr Elrington returned to the hotel, where he was staying while working away from home, she pulled out a knife and barricaded the door after he rejected her.
The incident, which ended when police forced their way inside and arrested Brookfield, 53, was part of a long campaign against Mr Elrington, 60, and his wife Alison, 54, after he ended the affair.
Warwick Crown Court heard Mr Elrington, who works at Barts Health NHS Trust in London, and Brookfield began an on-off relationship a decade ago. But when Mrs Elrington found out, ‘attempts were made to mend the marriage and the relationship with the defendant ceased’, said Peter Cooper, prosecuting.
In November 2015 Brookfield contacted Mrs Elrington asking to meet her at a hotel in York, but she turned up with her husband, who made it clear he wanted no further contact with his ex-lover.
Brookfield then began a campaign of stalking and harassment, starting with a malicious 999 call to Essex ambulance service falsely claiming Mrs Elrington, a former nurse, had taken an overdose and was known to be violent and was at home with a young child.
Two months later, Mr Elrington was working in York when he was approached by Brookfield and agreed to see her later at his hotel to discuss their situation.
But when he returned he found her in his room ‘lying on the bed wearing a nightie’, said Mr Cooper. ‘The room was strewn with Christmas presents and bottles of champagne.’ When Mr Elrington tried to leave, she produced a knife and threatened him, the court heard. Police were alerted by Mrs Elrington, who he called before Brookfield snatched his phone.
Brookfield, who suffers from bipolar disorder, was not charged as Mr Elrington did not want to pursue a complaint.
But a week later a parcel addressed to his wife arrived at their home in West Bergholt, Essex, containing women’s underwear, vitamins, abusive notes and a DVD of a film in which a man having an affair is killed by his mistress.
Brookfield, of Knowle, West Midlands, was arrested the next day after calling police with false allegations about Mrs Elrington. In court, she admitted stalking and causing alarm or distress, but was given an eight-month suspended sentence after a judge considered pre- sentence and psychiatric reports, and a ‘gracious’ plea from Mrs Elrington.
Recorder Nicholas Syfret QC told her: ‘You’re a lady of 53 and have never been in trouble with the courts before.
‘Your case is one of those unfortunate cases where mental illness comes before the courts.
‘I have particular regard to what the doctor says, to the effect that you have a lifelong and relapsing condition of bipolar disorder.’
He added: ‘Mrs Elrington in particular suffered really quite considerable mental distress as a result of your obsession with her husband. You must have made her life a misery, but she has, in an act of considerable graciousness, said that she would not want you to be imprisoned.’
Mr Syfret also imposed a restraining order banning Brookfield from contacting the couple.
Two months after the incident at the hotel Mr and Mrs Elrington were hit by tragedy when their son Tom, 30, died after taking a suspected overdose of legal highs he had obtained on the internet.
The court heard Brookfield is undergoing treatment. She has worked as a multiple sclerosis nurse for the NHS, as well as in the private sector.
‘Room was strewn with presents’