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VIDEO: Nurse who hated old killed four women in hospital
A SERIAL-killing nurse who poisoned elderly women with massive drug overdoses would have continued murdering vulnerable patients if he had not been caught, police said last night.
Top detectives branded Colin Norris "arrogant, cunning and dangerous" and expressed fears he could have become another Harold Shipman, following his conviction yesterday for murdering four women and attempting to murder a fifth at hospitals in Leeds in 2002.
Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Gregg praised doctors for ordering tests which revealed Norris's fifth and last victim, 86-year-old Ethel Hall, had been give a huge insulin overdose at Leeds General Infirmary.
The discovery triggered one of the most complex investigations ever conducted by West Yorkshire Police.
The Yorkshire Post can reveal today that officers were already investigating another rogue nurse on the same ward at the infirmary when they were called in over Mrs Hall's death.
Emma Webster was later convicted of stealing painkilling opiates to feed her own addiction but officers believe Norris could have seen how she evaded discovery and decided to use insulin – usually untraceable – to kill patients.
Last night health chiefs confirmed an inquiry would be held amid relatives' concerns that Norris killed undetected for seven months at the infirmary and St James's Hospital.
Mr Gregg, who headed the inquiry, singled out diabetes specialist Emma Ward for her decision to order tests on Mrs Hall for insulin.
Otherwise Norris would have continued murdering patients and replicated Shipman, he said.
"Had it not been for her prompt actions in recognising a criminal may be at work on her ward a serial killer would still be at large," he said.
"I am convinced that others would have lost their lives at his hands, his confidence was growing to such an extent he clearly felt he could kill with impunity.
"Norris is not only a dangerous criminal but cunning in his actions, choosing times to commit his crimes carefully, being either early in the morning or at weekends, when he knew senior and specialist staff were not routinely on duty."
Prosecutors suggested Norris did not like elderly patients and that he found them a burden.
But Mr Gregg said, like Shipman, Norris's motive for turning from carer to killer may never be known.
"They were two people killing patients in their care and nobody really knows why," he said.
"All these ladies were frail and elderly, it may be because Norris had control and power over them.
"They were vulnerable in his care and he took advantage of that perhaps because they irritated him or caused him annoyance."
Glasgow-born Norris, 32, formerly of Kirkstall, Leeds, will be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court today at the end of a four-and-a-half-month trial.
Jurors convicted him by an 11-1 majority of the attempted murder of Vera Wilby, 90; the murder of Doris Ludlam, 80; the murder of Bridget Bourke, 88; the murder of Irene Crookes on her 79th birthday; and the murder of Mrs Hall.
Public inquiry must be held says son of Norris victim
I can't grieve properly for mother
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Patient collapsed... just as the accused predicted
Hatred of elderly turned carer into new Shipman
Did another rogue nurse inspire plot to steal fatal drugs? Norris stood impassively as the verdicts were given. He will be given automatic life sentences today and told the minimum time he must serve.
The trial heard that by the time he attacked Mrs Hall, he was so confident he predicted to colleagues the time she would collapse. When she fell into a coma he pointed to his watch and callously told another nurse: "I told you so."
Mr Gregg said Norris had never shown "the slightest degree of remorse or emotion" for his actions. In interviews with police he was "exceptionally arrogant, almost aggressive" with officers.
He said police looked closely at three other deaths but two could have been explained by natural causes and a decision was made not to include the third in the trial.
He hoped the verdicts would bring some closure to the victims' families.
Police exhumed Mrs Bourke's body, but Mrs Ludlam and Mrs Crookes were cremated, giving detectives no scope for forensic testing.
West Yorkshire Police built up the case against the nurse by taking 7,000 statements from hospital staff, relatives and patients.
More than 3,000 exhibits were seized in a huge investigation which stretched to 300 binders and included complex shift patterns, hospital security and some of the world's leading medical experts in a range of fields.
Hospital chiefs said Norris had shown no signs of untoward behaviour in terms of his "capability, conduct or attendance".
Hugo Mascie-Taylor, medical director at Leeds hospitals, said: "What is clear from the evidence is that an extremely dangerous criminal has been brought to justice. In part this was thanks to a large number of staff acting appropriately, both in identifying the problem and also assisting the police investigation.
"Whilst Colin Norris's crimes are deeply disturbing, I am sure patients will understand that they have no bearing at all upon the overwhelming majority of hospital care either here in Leeds or elsewhere."
David Scutt, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Colin Norris preyed on his patients at a time when they were at their most trusting and most vulnerable. Our thoughts and sincere condolences go out to the victims and their families."
Tayside Police said yesterday that the case of a former flatmate of Norris's, who was found dead in the River Tay, had been re-examined after the allegations against the nurse came to light but it was confirmed the unnamed man had taken his own life.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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