Inquiry call as killer gets life

Relatives of the elderly women given fatal doses of the diabetes drug insulin by staff nurse Colin Norris called for a public inquiry into how the serial killer was able to kill with impunity.

He probably gave the elderly women the fatal injections while they were being treated at two Leeds hospitals because he was lazy and they were a burden, Mr Justice Griffith Williams told him.

The 32-year-old, of Egilsay Terrace, Glasgow, did not show any emotion as he was handed down four life sentences for murdering Doris Ludlam, 80, Bridget Bourke, 88, Irene Crookes, 79, and Ethel Hall, 86, while he worked at the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and the city's St James's Hospital in 2002.

A 20 year minimum sentence, to run concurrently, was imposed for the attempted murder of 90-year-old Vera Wilby, who survived a coma induced by an insulin injection.

A colleague, Dr Emma Ward alerted the authorities after noticing Mrs Hall had suddenly and unexpectedly slipped into a deep coma from which she later died.

Tests revealed insulin levels 12 times the norm, and police inquiries eventually found that by December 2002, he had already killed three times and tried to murder another patient.

After sentencing, Mrs Hall's 53-year-old son Stuart called for an inquiry to be carried out into how Norris was able to kill.

He has started preliminary discussions with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust about the nurse's breach of trust.

Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Gregg, whose inquiry team was praised by the judge, said hospital security has improved but institutions were susceptible to "one-off" employees like Norris."