A Croydon detective had an agonising six-month wait to discover whether he had contracted the viral liver disease Hepatitis C from drug-addict Liza Gooding after she repeatedly stabbed him with a needle.

Detective Constable David Woods was one of two officers who chased Gooding through the lunchtime crowds in Croydon after she was caught trying to suspiciously withdraw £100 in the town centre.

After the raid on Daisy Allen's house in Addington Road, Gooding hid in her victim's wardrobe all night and broke out of the flat the next morning.

She then met up with Johnson and a third defendant Paul Ryan, 41, who had acted as a lookout, at a crackhouse and went to the Halifax bank in Croydon.

A suspicious cashier called police and the trio left, but DC Wood along with DS Phillip Williams gave chase. Gooding struggled violently and repeatedly stabbed DC Wood with a bent hypodermic needle, knowing she carried the Hepatitis C virus. DC Wood, who works on South Norwood's burglary squad, suffered puncture wounds to his hands and arms and had a series of blood tests over six months before he was given the all-clear.

January 27, 2003 10:00