Errol Denton cried after a professor called his theories 'dangerous' on Thursday. The homeopathic practitioner is on trial for fraud

A homeopathic practitioner collapsed in tears after a professor of haematology dismissed his theories on blood as 'dangerous' and 'way out' during a fraud trial.

Errol Denton, 52, charged £650 for consultations booked through his website, offering to put clients' blood under a microscope and assess their health problems.

The 52-year-old, of Woodford Green, claimed to be able to cure cancer with herbs, blood analysis and diet tips, the Blackfriars Crown Court heard on Thursday.

But Professor Alan Hoffbrand, an Oxford-qualified doctor, who writes university textbooks on blood, smiled at the absurdity of Denton's claims.

'I think it is quite dangerous - this is why we all take examinations and are all trained so we give accurate medical descriptions,' Professor Hoffbrand said.

He continued: 'The earth goes round the sun, the sun doesn't go round the earth, two plus two makes four and the same here - for blood and scientific study of blood - there is only one language and it is universal.'

Denton claims he speaks a 'different language,' and part of his defence is that western medicine is overly dismissive of homeopathy.

Professor Hoffbrand shot down Denton's stance, saying: 'I am very, very opposed to alternative medicine. If I produce writing I know it's proved by scientific research.'

The professor continued: 'I do not want to base how I manage patients on anything other than peer review and what is best for them.

'This really did annoy me because I spent 50 years teaching how to diagnose these things.'

The professor told jurors that Denton's purported BA in traditional Chinese medicine, as well as qualifications in holistic medicine, microscopy and the alternative medicine of iridology, which is the study of the eye's iris, 'would be irrelevant in our field.'

But Professor Alan Hoffbrand, an Oxford-qualified doctor, who writes university textbooks on blood, scoffed at the absurdity of Denton's claims

Denton was said to have given an undercover trading standards officer a bottle of colloidal silver to drink after a consultation, claiming it would 'clean your blood.'

The professor said: 'Silver is not going to do your blood any good.'

Another of Denton's claims was that he could tell from the blood that a patient had dislocated her shoulder.

'The idea that you could tell someone has dislocated their shoulder from the blood is just so way out - I have never come across it,' Professor Hoffbrand said.

During a short adjournment, Denton broke down in tears and said: 'What I have had to cope with over the last eight years, nobody should have to cope with.'

He claims to have been viciously trolled on Twitter by those who seek to discredit him.

During a trading standards interview he said his treatments were 'light years away' from traditional medicine.

The 52-year-old, of Woodford Green, claimed to be able to cure cancer with herbs, blood analysis and diet tips, the Blackfriars Crown Court (pictured) heard on Thursday

Prosecutor Michael Coley said Denton claimed one woman client who had been diagnosed with terminal breast and ovarian cancer 'is alive 12 years later'.

Mr Coley added: 'You may think this is a statement which is in effect saying he and his techniques have cured her.'

Denton who was supported by a group in the public gallery, occasionally pipetted a tincture into his mouth and eyes as he listened to the live evidence against him.

The practitioner, of Woodford Green, denies fraud, unfair commercial practice and selling food not of the quality demanded.