Woman ‘spat out coffee made by doctor before growing suspicious his semen was in cup’, court hears

A woman who alleges that a doctor put his semen into cups of coffee he made for her has told a jury she became suspicious of the ‘salty’ taste and ‘gloopy’ substance in the mug.

Dr Nicholas Chapman, 55, of Taunton, Somerset, is on trial accused of two offences of attempting to cause the woman to engage in sexual activity without consent by making her ingest his semen. 

The woman, who cannot be identified, told the jury at Gloucester Crown Court: ‘I’d first noticed that when Dr Chapman made me a coffee about a year ago it tasted salty. I spat it out immediately. I saw a gloopy substance at the bottom of the cup.

‘Over a period of time, Dr Chapman made me a number of cups of coffee, but I distinctly remember not drinking them.

‘I also recall Dr Chapman showing me pictures on his phone and these were mostly of his pet dog and walks in the countryside. However, when he was scanning through these images, a picture of his erect penis appeared. Dr Chapman said that I shouldn’t have seen that.

‘I initially thought this was a mistake, but it happened again on a different occasion. I turned away and he said “you shouldn’t have seen that” again. I didn’t tell anybody about this.’

She added: ‘When I suspected that something had been put into my coffee, I would pretend that I had been drinking it and poured some of it away to make it look like I had been drinking it.

‘I began to question myself what was going on.

‘On one occasion, I was with a friend and when we suspected something was up we tried to fish the contents out. I didn’t know what it was but I didn’t expect to find semen at the bottom of my cup.

‘There were also remnants around the rim of the cup. I made the decision to take steps next time I believed it was happening again.’

The woman made contact with a friend and devised a plan that the next time Chapman made her coffee, she said she tipped some of the contents away and could see ‘stringy gooey remains’ around the rim of the mug. 

She said she took pictures, which were time stamped September 14 at 3.15pm, and then emptied the rest of the contents into a container and gave it to her friend who stored it in her freezer. 

Mr Chapman (pictured) is accused of giving a woman a cup of coffee that contained his semen

She told the jury that arrangements were then made to hand the sample over to the police and tests later confirmed it was semen, and matched the DNA of the defendant.

The GP was arrested and suspended from his post when the allegations came to light.

Opening the prosecution case, barrister Richard Posner said it was in September 2021 when the alleged victim first became concerned there was ‘something not right’ about the hot drinks the doctor made for her.

‘She had good reason to be suspicious because there was a substance in her coffee that had no business being there at all. The defendant’s semen had been added to the drinks that the prosecution say he had been making for her,’ he said.

‘By adding semen to coffee, he had been attempting to engage her in a form of sexual activity – by her ingesting his semen.’

Mr Posner related how, in late 2020, the woman took a sip of her drink and spat it out into the sink because it did not taste right.

‘It tasted salty. She tipped the remainder into the sink and saw a thick, gloopy substance go into the sink.

‘She just knew it was something that shouldn’t have been there.’

The woman told others her drink tasted funny and that she would tip away other drinks he made for her during that time.

He said she then waited until another drink was made for her and began her own investigation.

‘She collected the coffee and tipped it down a sink and noticed a slimy trail.

‘Some of the substance was retrieved and put into specimen pots and photos were taken of the gloopy substance at the bottom of the mug.’

Gloucester Crown Court heard that after the victim found suspicious ‘specimens’, she reported him to the police and a laboratory test later confirmed the substance was ‘semen that related to the doctor’

Samples were put in the freezer and she later gave them to police.

Analysis of the coffee made on September 13, 2021, found semen and DNA provided a match to the defendant.

He was arrested by police and during interview said he was ‘shocked’ and denied putting semen into the woman’s coffee.

Chapman later claimed that due to a medical condition that he has had since he was a teenager, he emits semen while defecating and some ‘residue’ might have remained on his hands.

Mr Posner said the defendant accepted he had ‘masturbated in toilets’, but was ‘not sexually gratifying himself over the victim and he may not have washed his hands.’

The two charges are dated September 13, 2021, and between September 12, 2020, and September 12, 2021. 

Defence barrister Virginia Cornwall has told the jury the doctor’s defence is that he did not behave inappropriately at any time and did not exclusively make coffee for the woman.

She said he denies putting anything into her coffee at any time and does not know who did so.

The trial continues.