Yorkshire nurse murder case may be revisited after move by lawyers

Glasgow-born Colin Norris was jailed for at least 30 years in March 2008 for murdering the patients and attempting to kill a fifth at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s Hospital in 2002.

His trial, at Newcastle Crown Court, was told his crimes were discovered after Ethel Hall, 86, who did not have diabetes, was injected with a massive, fatal dose of insulin which reduced the sugar content in her blood to a level which starved her brain of the glucose needed to function properly. Her insulin levels were 12 times the norm and she died three weeks later.

The four who died were being treated for hip fractures and suffered fatal brain damage due to the hypoglycaemic attacks which were said to be rare in non-diabetics but following recent claims by an insulin expert that his research shows that hypoglycaemic episodes (people slipping into comas) are not “that rare” among elderly patients in hospitals, lawyers have referred the matter to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the independent public body set up to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Jeremy Moore, of Carter Moore Solicitors, said the application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission on behalf of Colin Norris was supported by compelling new evidence on insulin poisoning.

Norris has always denied injecting patients with insulin but lost an appeal in December 2009.