Nurse charged over five deaths at hospital

A 27-YEAR-OLD nurse has been charged in connection with the deaths of five patients at a hospital at the centre of a tampering probe.

Rebecca Leighton, is accused of six counts of causing damage with intent to endanger life or being reckless to whether life is being endangered.

She has been in police custody since Wednesday morning where she has faced questions by detectives probing the contamination of saline at Stepping Hill Hospital.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “A woman arrested by detectives investigating five deaths at Stepping Hill Hospital has been charged.

“Rebecca Jane Leighton, of Buxton Road, Heaviley, is charged with six counts under section one of the criminal damage act, causing damage with intent to endanger life or being reckless to whether life is being endangered.

“She is due to appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.”

Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: “These are serious charges that relate to allegations that Rebecca Leighton tampered with medical products, saline ampoules and saline bags in Stepping Hill Hospital and by doing so endangered the lives of patients.”

The maximum sentence for criminal damage intending to endanger life or being reckless as to whether life would be endangered is life imprisonment, said the CPS.

Leighton was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of murder over the deaths of three patients at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, outside Manchester.

Police confirmed on Thursday they were linking two further deaths to the investigation. Derek Weaver, 83, died earlier that day while the second patient, an 84-year-old woman, died on July 14.

The Manchester Evening News reported that all deaths at the hospital since the first one on July 7 were now being investigated by the coroner, more than 50 cases in total, and all future deaths would be referred to him.

Officers believe someone deliberately tampered with a batch of saline, contaminating it with insulin.

Ten other patients at the hospital have been affected, including a 41-year-old man, who is in critical condition.

Newspapers have painted a picture of Leighton as a party girl, with reports saying she described herself on her Facebook page as a “happy go lucky kinda gal”.

But friends have defended her on the internet, with one reportedly writing on her Facebook page: “You wouldn’t harm a fly and everyone that knows you knows this to be true. We are all behind you kid.”