UK nurse sentenced to life in prison for killing 2 patients
May 19, 2015, 6:36 AM
Ben Southam, Senior Crown Prosecutor from the CPS North West Complex Casework Unit, talks to the media outside Manchester Crown Court, Manchester England, Monday, May 18, 2015, after nurse Victorino Chua was found guilty by a jury of murdering and poisoning hospital patients at Stepping Hill Hospital. A medical mystery that began four years ago with unexplained deaths in a British hospital ended Monday when a "frustrated" nurse was convicted of using insulin to murder two patients. The 49-year-old nurse, a father of two daughters, was also convicted of trying to poison 20 other patients during what police called a reign of terror at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT
(Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
LONDON (AP) — A nurse was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for the murder and poisonings of patients at a British hospital.
Victorino Chua will have to serve at least 35 years before his release can be considered. He was convicted of killing two patients at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, near Manchester.
Judge Peter Openshaw said Chua had committed “a dreadful crime and he must now pay the price.”
Detectives described the 49-year-old nurse as a narcissistic psychopath.
Police found a confession note in which he wrote “there’s a devil in me.” The killings happened in 2011.
Chua was found to have injected insulin into saline bags and ampules. Other nurses who were not aware of the tampering then used them, leading to insulin overdoses.
Most of his victims recovered but two died and a third suffered a brain injury.
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