A doctor who cut the lip of a rugby player after he faked an injury in the infamous 'Bloodgate' scandal wept as she spoke of her shame.
Dr Wendy Chapman used a stitchcutter to create a 'real injury' after winger Tom Williams had faked an injury on the pitch.
Harlequins were trailing 5-6 against Leinster during the Heineken Cup quarter-final tie when Williams bit into a blood capsule.
The move engineered a 'blood replacement', which allowed a substituted specialist kicker back onto the field in the closing minutes of the tie in April 2009.
But as Williams left the pitch the fake blood did not appear to have the same colour or texture as real blood and after he winked at teammates rival players protested loudly to officials.
Fearing the fake blood ruse was about to be uncovered winger Williams, 25, panicked and insisted the doctor cut his lip.
The cheating scandal, which became known as the 'Bloodgate,' rocked club rugby and sent shockwaves through the world of sport.
Dr Chapman sobbed as she told a panel at General Medical Council (GMC) in Manchester she was deeply 'ashamed' of her actions.
Dr Chapman, an A&E consultant and match day doctor, said she had initially examined Williams looking for an injury inside his mouth.
When two match day officials walked into the room she is alleged to have told the player he may have a wobbly tooth.
She told Williams to go through to the changing room to wash his mouth out with fresh water and when she followed him in to finish her examination he asked her to cut his lip.
She said: 'He was absolutely desperate. He said "You've got to cut me. I've got to have a real injury." I don't remember the exact words.
Dr Chapman said she refused to cut the player's lip, but he kept asking her to cut the lip and put her under pressure.
She added: 'That's when I realised that I had been duped, that this wasn't an injury, that there was a hoo-ha about it.
After making the incision she told Williams to hold gauze on it and left the room 'horrified' at what she had done.
She left to attend at a serious medical emergency in the crowd before leaving the ground to go on holiday with her family to Cornwall.
She said she had no idea about the uproar the scandal had caused until days after the incident when she was contacted by Harlequins director of rugby Dean Richards and told there was to an European Rugby Cup (ERC) investigation.
But that she was 'so ashamed' of what she had done she felt she could not confide in anyone about her role - not even her GP husband.
Weeping, Dr Chapman, a mother-of-three told the panel: 'I was too ashamed. I was desperate to ask for some help.
'I was so ashamed of doing the wrong thing. It was completely the wrong thing.
'I really don't understand, that sounds feeble but I just don't understand why.
The panel was told that Dr Chapman, who is recovering from breast cancer, had been employed as an A&E consultant at Maidstone Hospital in Kent at the time and also worked as a match day doctor for Harlequins.
She had been suffering from 'moderate to severe' depression at the time of the scandal following personal and work problems and had been to see her GP.
Dr Chapman, who has practised for 24 years, admitted some charges against her at the GMC and could be struck off as a result of her actions.
She contests is that she told match officials that Williams had a loose tooth in order to deceive them.