A GP who is awaiting trial for allegedly attempting to hire a hitman to kill a financial adviser is fighting for his life following a horror crash while riding his bike.
Dr David Crichton was due to appear at court next week on charges of soliciting the murder of an Edinburgh-based advisor who he supposedly led a campaign of fear against over a nine-month period.
But the 63-year-old is in intensive care in hospital after he was knocked off his bike by a car on January 11, near his home in Bournemouth, Dorset.
Dr David Crichton (pictured), 63, who was due to appear at court next week on charges of soliciting a murder, is fighting for his life after being knocked his bike while riding near his home in Bournemouth, Dorset
Dr Crichton is said to be in a ‘critical but stable’ condition in the neuro-intensive care unit at Southampton Hospital.
A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said a decision will be made next week on the date he is next due to appear before a judge at Winchester Crown Court.
Married Dr Crichton has been a long-time director of the Tolpuddle Gardens GP surgery in Bournemouth and of the Muscliff Care Home which is situated on the same site.
He was cycling when his bike collided with a grey Volkswagen Golf at 10.30am on January 11 on the B3073 at Ferndown, Dorset.
The road was closed for six hours after the collision and police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.
Prosecutors claim Dr Crichton ‘solicited, encouraged, persuaded or endeavoured to persuade or proposed to a person unknown’ to murder Mr Andrew Bolden who works for Edinburgh-based Brown Shipley Financial Advisers.
Dr Crichton is said to be in a ‘critical but stable’ condition in the neuro-intensive care unit at Southampton Hospital. He was cycling when his bike collided with a grey Volkswagen Golf at 10.30am on January 11 on the B3073 at Ferndown, Dorset when he was hit
Dr Crichton has also been charged with sending threatening e-mails and text messages to Mr Bolden over a nine month period between July 26, 2016 to March 4 last year with the intention of ‘causing distress and anxiety’ to him.
Mr Bolden has worked as a financial adviser for 32 years offering members of the medical profession advice on pensions, tax and investment legislation.
Dr Crichton, who lives in a large detached £750,000 house in the affluent Talbot Woods area of Bournemouth, is a keen cyclist and belongs to a Bournemouth-based triathlon club.
Before the accident, prosecutors claimed in court that Dr Crichton ‘solicited, encouraged, persuaded or endeavoured to persuade or proposed to a person unknown’ to murder Mr Andrew Bolden who works for Edinburgh-based Brown Shipley Financial Advisers
He was previously director of the South Coast Medical Group Ltd, which oversees the Providence Surgery general practice in Walpole Road, Bournemouth.
Dr Crichton resigned the post in 2013.
He has also relinquished his registration to the General Medical Council – an organisation he was first fully registered with in August 1978.
Dr Crichton studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1977.
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