A GP charged with trying to hire a hitman is fighting for his life at Southampton General Hospital following a horror crash.

Dr David Crichton is due to appear at Winchester Crown Court next week after allegedly soliciting the murder of a financial adviser.

But the 63-year-old is currently being treated in the neuro-intensive care unit at Southampton Hospital following an accident in Ham Lane, Ferndown, Dorset, last week.

Dr Crichton, a long-time director of the Tolpuddle Gardens surgery and Muscliff Care Home, was cycling when his bike collided with a grey Volkswagen Golf at 10.30am on Thursday January 11.

Following the accident, police appealed for anyone who witnessed the collision on the B3073 to come forward.

Ham Lane was closed for almost six hours while police carried out investigatory work at the scene.

Dr Crichton, who lives in a luxury home in Cawdor Road, Talbot Woods, is alleged to have plotted to kill Andrew Bolden on February 26 last year.

Prosecutors claim he ‘solicited, encouraged, persuaded or endeavoured to persuade or proposed to a person unknown’ to murder the finance expert.

Dr Crichton has also been charged with sending threatening e-mails and text messages to Mr Bolden over a nine month period.

The messages are said to have been sent between July 26, 2016 to March 4 last year with the intention of ‘causing distress and anxiety’ to him.

Mr Bolden works for Edinburgh-based Brown Shipley Financial Advisers and specialises in offering members of the medical profession advice on pensions, tax and investment legislation.

Dr Crichton is a keen cyclist and belongs to a Bournemouth-based triathlon club.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said they are aware of the collision and that a decision as to how to move forward will be made next week on the date he is due to appear before a judge at Winchester Crown Court.

Dr Crichton remains in the neuro intensive care unit and is is said to be in a critical but stable condition.