A child protection detective has been charged with poisoning a Met Police colleague by allegedly putting anti-freeze in his Lucozade because it kept getting it stolen.

Steven Halfhide collapsed and was taken to hospital after taking a swig from the bottle of screenwash that Gary Quigley had allegedly left in a fridge at their Stratford office.

He fully recovered and Quigley has now been charged with maliciously administering a noxious substance with ‘intent to injure’.

On trial: Gary Quigley, 45, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court, pictured, last week and is due at Southwark Crown Court in March

A Met Police spokesman said: ‘Gary Quigley, 45, detective constable at the Met’s Child Abuse Investigation Command in Stratford, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on January 3 on suspicion of administering a noxious substance and will appear at Southwark Crown Court on March 4.’

A source at the Met told The Sun that Det Halfhide realised something was very wrong the moment he drank from the bottle.

‘Detectives are working on a theory that people kept taking swigs from a drink at work and that screenwash was put into the drink allegedly to catch a culprit,’ the source added.

Hospitalised: Steve Halfhide collapsed after apparently drinking from a bottle of Lucozade that had allegedly been spiked with screenwash by Gary Quigley

Quigley is now on restricted duties at work.

Screenwash is toxic in even small amounts and contains chemicals, alcohol and solvents.

Quigley’s son Kristofer, 21, said his father had been treated ‘terribly’.

Speaking at the family home in Colchester, Essex, he added: ‘I’m surprised they didn’t suspend him. They just made him carry on working.’

– Mail Online