Fresh insight into ‘Angel of Death’... 25 years on

PICK OF THE DAY TREVOR McDONALD AND THE KILLER NURSE ITV, 9pm

ACHILDLIKE voice ringing out on a police tape claims: “No matter what you say, I’m sticking to my story. I did not do it.” Her voice is so young, it could almost be a kid refusing to confess to stealing some sweets. But this is a recording of one of Britain’s most prolific female serial killers.

Young nurse Beverly Allitt was just 22 years old when she attacked 13 children on the children’s ward where she worked, killing four.

Sir Trevor McDonald vividly remembers the case of the woman dubbed the ‘Angel of Death’, which he reported on at the time.

“It has stayed with me until this day,” he says.

Now 25 years on from Allitt’s conviction, Sir Trevor listens to the original police interviews, meets some of her surviving victims and speaks to the detective responsible for bringing her to justice in an

effort to learn why she did it. Former Detective Superintendent Stuart Clifton recalls: “One very senior officer said to me, ‘You’re chasing rainbows’. But there was something that just rankled with me that didn’t seem quite true.”

Over a two-month period children k ept collapsing at Grantham Hospital in Lincolnshire. Doctors put it down to medical reasons, but in reality the wellloved nurse Allitt, who was always “there to help”, was in fact overdosing them with insulin.

Victim Kayley still has flashbacks and nightmares about her ordeal. When Sir Trevor asks what frightens her now, she replies: “In case she comes back for me.”

This is a horrifying yet compelling insight into a case that shocked the nation.