It’s time to put the Angel of Death in prison, says victim
Serial killer nurse Allitt ‘living life of Riley’ in hospital
A VICTIM of the nurse known as the Angel of Death has demanded that she be moved from a psychiatric hospital to a regular prison.
Bradley Gibson – who was five when serial killer Beverley Allitt tried to murder him – said his attacker was ‘living the life of Riley’ in Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire.
Baby-faced Allitt was 22 when she murdered four children and tried to kill nine others by tampering with their injections at Grantham Hospital in Lincolnshire in a 59-day period in 1991.
Allitt was diagnosed with Munchausen’s syndrome in which she invents illness and inflicts injury on herself to attract attention and also the same syndrome by proxy, in which she harmed children for the same effect.
She received 13 life sentences in 1993 after she was found guilty of four counts of murder, three of attempted murder and six counts of grievous bodily harm. Mr Justice Latham described her as ‘ cunning and manipulative’, and told her she would never be released.
The court heard two expert psychiatrists offer different advice as to where she should be kept and the judge said the choice between prison or hospital should be left to the then home secretary Michael Howard. Allitt has spent almost 27 years in Rampton Hospital – instead of a prison.
Mr Gibson, 32, said: ‘She’s a criminal, she’s a murderer, she’s a child murderer. She’s been living the life of Riley in [Rampton]. She should be serving her life sentences in a prison behind bars.’
His view is shared by several experts. Psychiatrist Jeremy Coid said: ‘She doesn’t sound like somebody who has a severe mental illness or a personality disorder so severe that she needs to go to Rampton.’ Criminologist Elizabeth Yardley added: ‘ When we start talking about mental ill health, we’re looking at people who aren’t in control of their actions, but Beverley Allitt knew exactly what she was doing.
‘She knew it was wrong and she chose to do it anyway. I think somebody who has committed murder knowingly, willingly, should be in prison. This woman is an incredibly manipulative individual. ‘She’s somebody who has managed to pull the strings of other people for years and years before she was even convicted of these crimes. So, why would she have changed her behaviour?’ Mr Gibattacking son was admitted to the special children’s unit at Grantham with pneumonia in March 1991. One night he told Allitt that his drip was causing him some discomfort. Instead of helping him, she administered an almost- fatal dose of potassium.
He suffered a heart attack and doctors gave him at least eight electric shocks in a desperate attempt to save his life.
After 32 minutes, they were about to give up on him when they detected a weak heartbeat.
Mr Gibson told ITV: ‘I lost the use of my legs, so I wasn’t able to get out of bed, wasn’t able to move around. I couldn’t control my bladder for a number of years afterwards. I had nightmares. I remember waking up quite a number of nights, just screaming. You put so much faith and trust in nurses. They’re supposed to help you.’ Allitt had started children a month previously when seven- month- old Liam Taylor was admitted with a chest infection.
The softly spoken nurse went out of her way to reassure his parents that he was in safe hands. She volunteered for extra night duty so she could inject him with insulin without being watched.
Two cardiac arrests left Liam with brain damage so severe that his parents took the decision to turn off his life support machine.
The Angel of Death was not questioned about Liam’s death and went on to kill 11-year- old Timothy Hardwick, two-monthold Becky Phillips and 15-monthold Claire Peck. Alarmed at the death toll, hospital staff finally called in detectives. By then, Allitt had tried to kill nine others. Trevor McDonald and the Killer Nurse, ITV, Wednesday at 9pm