THREE nurses have told a court a homeless patient with tuberculosis (TB) spat at them 10 times after he took his medication.

David Goodwin suffered a coughing fit after downing 12 tablets at once at a medical centre and then started deliberately spitting, knowing his condition was contagious, Oxford Crown Court was told yesterday.

But the 50-year-old told the court he was not spitting but choking on the tablets stuck in his throat.

The jury heard Goodwin had visited the Luther Street Medical Centre, in Oxford, on January 7 to take his daily dose of medication to fight TB.

Nurse team leader Robin Feast said Goodwin was asked to go to the back door of the centre to collect his drugs.

Mr Feast said he and two other women nurses met him and handed over the pot of tablets.

He said: “As far as I could tell he had put all the tablets in his mouth in one go and then he started to cough and splutter but then he recovered from that.

“Then he deliberately, as far as I could perceive, spat about 10 times. He didn’t hit us but came within about two feet of hitting me.”

The court also heard Goodwin stared at one of the nurses in a way which made her feel uncomfortable and he seemed agitated.

Goodwin, giving evidence, said he was staring because the nurses were wearing masks and he could not recognise them.Asked if he deliberately spat at the nurses he said: “No, I never spat at them.”

Goodwin, of no fixed address, denies breaching an antisocial behaviour order forbidding him from threatening, abusing and harassing people, coughing or spitting at others, or trying to spread TB.

The trial continues.