Angel of Death nurse Colin Norris loses appeal over patient murders

A nurse who was jailed for the murder of four elderly patients has lost his appeal against his convictions.

Colin Norris - who has recently changed his name to Colin Campbell, was found guilty in 2008 of killing four women and attempting to kill a fifth by injecting them with insulin.

Doris Ludlam, 80, Bridget Bourke, 88, Irene Crookes, 79, and Ethel Hall, 86, were inpatients on orthopaedic wards where Campbell worked in Leeds in 2002 before they died, and had developed severe, unexplained hypoglycaemia.

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The Scottish nurse, 48, denied any wrongdoing and said he did nothing to cause hypoglycaemia in any of the patients.

All five women were elderly inpatients on orthopaedic wards where Norris worked as a nurse, at Leeds General Infirmary and the city's St James's Hospital. As well as murdering four, he was also found guilty of attempting to murder 90-year-old Vera Wilby.

Police began an investigation after Dr Emma Ward noticed in November 2002 that Mrs Hall had slipped into a hypoglycaemic coma despite not being a diabetic.

Blood tests showed she had insulin levels 12 times the norm, and she died three weeks later.

Detectives looked at other deaths on the wards from comas when Norris was working and after a lengthy investigation found that by the time Dr Ward raised her concerns, he had already killed three times, and failed with one attempt.

He unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction in 2009 and applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in 2011, who said previously that the prosecution relied on “wholly circumstantial” evidence.

The CCRC referred the case to the Court of Appeal in London four years ago. After 14 days, the appeal finished on at the beginning of the month. after closing submissions from Michael Mansfield KC, for Campbell, and James Curtis KC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, who opposed the appeal.

Mr Mansfield previously told the court that Campbell’s appeal is a “straightforward case” and that the judges “must conclude that these convictions are unsafe”. It is claimed that evidence against him was largely circumstantial and deeply flawed.

However, Mr Curtis said the court must uphold the convictions, adding that the jury in Campbell’s trial were “provided with the necessary relevant facts and issues, from a plethora of highly qualified and clinically experienced witnesses”.

In a ruling today judges dismissed his appeals.

In their judgment, Lady Justice Macur, Mr Justice Picken and Sir Stephen Irwin, said: “We have no doubt about the safety of any of the five convictions. The appeals are dismissed.”