Hospital poison spree killer nurse loses appeal

KILLER nurse Victorino Chua has failed in a bid to challenge his conviction and sentence for murdering and poisoning hospital patients.

Chua was jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years in May last year after being convicted by a jury at Manchester Crown Court.

His applications for permission to appeal against both conviction and sentence were rejected on Thursday by judges at the Court of Appeal in London.

The father of two, now 50, who was described by police as a narcissistic psychopath, injected insulin into saline bags and ampoules while working on two acute wards at Stepping Hill Hospital in June and July 2011.

These were unwittingly used by other nurses, causing a series of insulin overdoses to mainly elderly victims.

When the self-styled ‘angel turned evil’ was sentenced, the trial judge Mr Justice Openshaw described his actions as ‘indescribably wicked.’

Lord Justice Treacy, sitting with two other judges, announced that the one proposed ground of appeal against conviction was not ‘arguable,’ and rejected argument that the minimum term of 35 years was ‘manifestly excessive.’

Chua was found guilty of murdering two patients and poisoning a further 19 at Stepping Hill Hospital by contaminating medical products with insulin.

The Filipino-born father-of-two, who lived in Heaton Norris, was convicted following a four-month trial of 33 counts in total, including the murders of Tracey Arden, 44, and Derek Weaver, 83. His convictions cover attacks on 21 patients, all at Stepping Hill, in the summer of 2011 and in January 2012.

He denied all the charges that he faced - and continues to deny them to this day.

In most of the poisonings, Chua injected insulin into medical products like saline ampoules and saline bags, leaving them for unwitting medical colleagues to administer to patients on two acute wards at the hospital, where he worked as a night shift nurse.

In some of cases police believe Chua administered the insulin himself.

In October last year, Chua appeared in front of a Nursing and Midwifery Council panel where despite pleading his innocence, the panel ruled that in order to protect the public from serious harm, he would never be allowed to practise nursing if he ever leaves prison.