Angel of Death (20 page)

Several of the surviving youngsters had shown worrying signs of possible brain damage after their ordeal at the hospital; nobody would know for sure until the children were much older. Tests were being carried out on Katie Phillips who developed an apparent weakness on her right side; Hazel Elstone had noticed that surviving son Patrick wasn't making the same progress as his twin brother, Anthony; and Finbar and Margaret Desmond were unhappy about the development of daughter Kayley. Others believed their children may have escaped without long-term effects. The lawyer immediately launched a claim for damages on behalf of several of the children.

If the police enquiry fizzled out, and the case was dropped, then the parents announced they would consider bringing their own private prosecution.

The press conference was a traumatic experience for most of the families, exposed to the glare of publicity for the very first time, but they were determined to have their say.

Chris Taylor, whose seven-week-old baby son Liam had been the first to die, sat beside his wife Joanne in the upstairs conference room at the Guildhall and criticised the hospital authorities. He snapped: ‘They have referred to the strain their staff have been under, but I've not heard them once mention the strain the parents are under.' He continued: ‘If our three-year-old son became ill now, then I wouldn't take him to the hospital. I don't feel I can trust anyone until we get some answers.

‘We were just trying to come to terms with what we had lost when the police came. We'd no suspicions before that and we still haven't had the answer why he died …'

Judith Gibson, whose son Bradley had suffered two unexplained heart attacks on the ward, and ‘died' for thirty-two minutes, said the case had put a strain on marriages. She spoke of the need for a quick decision from the DPP, saying: ‘None of us want to go through this any longer. We have all suffered enough. We are all experiencing very similar emotions and feelings. We feel someone is culpable, and that someone is responsible at the hospital for the deaths of these four children. The families want that person found and prosecuted.'

Sue Phillips was in no doubt there should be a public enquiry, compensation for the parents and a speedy decision from the DPP.

She told the newsmen: ‘As parents we are trying to stick together, and see it through together, but it still hasn't sunk in what's happened, and it won't
for a long time. It's like a nightmare. I keep thinking I'll wake up. The police have told us what was administered to our baby Becky, and exactly how much. In some ways I feel very sorry for the person who did this to her. The person must be twisted.'

Strangely, throughout the hour-long press conference, nobody mentioned Beverley Allitt's name. It wasn't necessary. Everyone in the room knew who had brought them all together and who was the real target of their fury. Finbar Desmond, whose daughter Kayley had been nine months old when she twice suffered respiratory failures on Ward Four, said he knew the nurse who had been questioned by the police.

‘I feel compassion for her,' he said. I've not seen her since all this blew up, but I don't think I'd like to meet her because I don't know how I would react …'

Lawyer Ms Alexander did her best, measuring her words carefully to explain what the parents thought, knowing that there was no way, in the middle of a murder enquiry, that she could name the suspected killer.

She said: ‘They believe one person is responsible, and they think they know who that person is. The parents are under a lot of stress because they don't know whether the police will be allowed to bring a criminal prosecution. That is hanging over them.'

She said the delay in deciding whether to bring charges was causing undue distress. Parents were
not unhappy, she said, with the police who had kept them in the picture ‘every inch of the way'. But turning to the role of the hospital authorities in the tragedy, and the apparent delay in calling in the police at the beginning, she declared: ‘The parents haven't had any questions answered as to the reason why there was a delay in bringing in the police in the first place.

‘The incidents started in February, but it wasn't until May that the police were involved. They are concerned that not only does it not happen again, but also that steps are taken to ensure that it does not.'

The idea of the press conference had been to arouse public feeling and to put into words the suspicion that the deaths on Ward Four might be swept under the carpet. To that extent it was a huge success.

Lincolnshire's Assistant Chief Constable, Alan Goldsmith, quickly issued a statement sympathising with the parents. ‘We understand what they are going through,' he said. ‘But the file has been with the DPP for four weeks and is still being considered very thoroughly.'

Hospital manager Martin Gibson, worried by the criticism that he had been slow to react, jumped to the hospital's defence and insisted that he had called in the police as soon as the possibility of drugs being misused had been identified. Security on the wards had been checked. ‘Both ourselves and the police are satisfied as to their adequacy,' he said.

Mr Gibson said it was the first time the hospital had heard about a call for a public enquiry; he felt parents should contact him if they were anxious about the treatment of their children on Ward Four. Any claims for compensation would be carefully considered, he promised.

The press conference generated a huge wave of publicity, making headlines in almost all the national newspapers and on TV.

Parents, however, still harboured doubts that the enquiry would not lead to charges and that the case would be too complicated to prove.

On 13 November, when they had still heard nothing (almost two months after the file had gone to the DPP), their patience ran out again. After a meeting with their lawyer, a group resorted to shock tactics, besieging Grantham police station and demanding to know why there was still no news. The angry parents crowded into the foyer of the station before they were finally summoned into an office for a meeting with Detective Chief Inspector Alan Smith.

Judith Gibson stormed: ‘The waiting is driving us mad. We have to be told what's happening.' Joining in the verbal attack Chris Taylor said: ‘We've had to take action to break down the wall of silence which surrounds the case. We've read more in the press than the police have been prepared to tell us.'

The parents finally left the station an hour later, feeling reassured. The Detective Chief Inspector had promised frequent progress reports, and said:
‘Even if there is nothing to report the parents will be told.'

Mrs Gibson told reporters: ‘We made our point, and the police appreciated that. I am sure we shall now see some light.'

They only had to wait eight more days.

Supt Clifton had arranged to meet officials of the DPP and medical experts in Nottingham on 20 November to discuss the next move; a decision would then be taken whether or not to charge Nurse Allitt.

The meeting was scheduled to last two days but they didn't need that long. By the afternoon of the first day everybody agreed there was only one course of action to take.

Supt Clifton, who had had that gut feeling from the beginning, and who had refused to walk away when the investigation had seemed hopeless, was told: ‘You can charge her.' Allitt could be charged with the murder of all four children. He could also charge her with attempting to kill the eight who had survived, and also assaulting them, causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

He decided not to waste a minute; he had waited a long time for this day, and so had the families of the twelve children.

Allitt, on police bail since her first visit to Grantham police station, had spent what was to be her last day of freedom answering the phone, relaying messages and packing Christmas hampers at the wine warehouse where her father worked at Corby Glen.

Managing director, Jeremy Marshall-Roberts, knew about the allegations and had even had the police at his door asking questions. During the weeks of speculation he had asked Allitt about the case, and been told: ‘I didn't do it …' But Mr Marshall-Roberts knew that Allitt realised that, even if she could prove her innocence, she would never be allowed to nurse children again. In his mind Jeremy Marshall-Roberts felt the police had made an awful mistake.

Allitt was at home 250 yards away when her solicitor, Mr John Kendall, broke the news. Mr Kendall was a well-known figure in Grantham, an articulate man with a ready smile and a firm handshake.

He was no stranger to Stuart Clifton. The two men had known each other for five years, opposing one another across the courtrooms of Lincolnshire. In one murder case, handled by Supt Clifton, Kendall had defended a man accused of battering his father to death – and had won the day. On other occasions he had lost, but there was no animosity between the two professionals, simply mutual respect.

Now he found himself on opposite sides again to the detective superintendent. He had already amassed a huge file of information about the events on Ward Four, and had even gone so far as to advise his client to read
The Death Shift
, the book telling the story of Nurse Genene Jones's conviction for murdering a child. There were similarities between the two cases, and Mr
Kendall had been conscious that Allitt should study the book.

He had known that the conference on that November Wednesday was likely to produce a decision, but he had expected that it would be days, or even weeks, before he heard the outcome. However, by 8pm of that same night, Supt Clifton was on the phone to his home asking if he would deliver Allitt to the police station to be charged.

Supt Clifton and colleague Detective Inspector Neil Jones went to Grantham to await her arrival.

News of the impending charges came as a heart-rending blow to her family. The realisation of what was to come began to sink in as Allitt prepared to leave for the police station. She could take no personal possessions with her, no change of clothes, no favourite book or tape. Mr Kendall knew from experience that it was better if Allitt ‘went into the system clean'.

It was Neil Jones, the officer who had tracked down the children's blood samples, who was given the job of charging her.

Detectives who had spent more than six months investigating the events on Ward Four thought that now Allitt would betray some emotion, perhaps shed a tear or scream in frustration.

But she showed no concern as Mr Jones read out the charges, one by one. With solicitor Mr Kendall at her side Allitt, by then just twenty-three, listened in silence, saying nothing, as he listed each one of the four charges of murder – eight-week-old Liam Taylor, eleven-year-old Timothy Hardwick,
nine-week-old Becky Phillips, fifteen-month-old Claire Peck.

Then came eight charges of attempting to murder and eight more of assault causing grievous bodily harm to Katie Phillips, Henry Chan, Kayley Desmond, Patrick Elstone, Christoper Peasgood, Christopher King, Bradley Gibson and Paul Crampton.

As he finished Allitt finally spoke. She said simply: ‘Thank you very much.' One officer recalled: ‘We couldn't believe it. We talked about it afterwards. There she was being charged with the murders of four children and the attempted murder of another eight and all she could say was “Thank you very much.” She treated it like a Sunday school outing.'

He added: ‘The surprising thing we noticed was the difference in her attitude, depending whether it was a conversation or an interview. In conversation she was very comfortable, very personable, but the minute you got into an interview situation it was as though someone had thrown a switch. It was like talking to two different personalities.'

Allitt was taken back to the row of police cells where she had spent her first night during questioning back in June, to await her first appearance in Grantham Magistrates' Court the following morning.

After all their months of anxious waiting Supt Clifton wanted to ensure that the parents were the first to know about the charges.

A detective telephoned David Crampton, who had been designated to take the first call. David, an
intelligent, professional man, had worked closely with Supt Clifton and was in no doubt about his ability to discover the truth. ‘If I had committed a crime and knew Stuart Clifton was after me, then I'd give myself up,' he said. He let the other families know the news. Some were quietly delighted but Peter Phillips couldn't hide his excitement and decided to go straight to Ward Four, where Katie was still under observation, to break the news to the other nurses.

He said: ‘I walked in, punching the air, shouting to the nurses that she had been charged. I expected them to be pleased that the waiting was finally over but virtually all of them walked away.' This was not a night for celebration on Ward Four.

Knowing that she had been accused of murdering four children, the police doubted whether Allitt would get much sleep. Innocent or guilty, how could anyone rest with that hanging over her? But the next morning the young nurse was so soundly asleep that she had to be woken up to face the magistrates.

‘We all found it totally amazing,' remembered one of the detectives. ‘You'd think that if you faced all those charges, you wouldn't sleep a wink.'

News of Allitt's impending appearance before the magistrates bench had caused angry crowds to gather outside Grantham Court. Among them were Peter and Sue Phillips, Robert and Hazel Elstone, Finbar Desmond, and Judith and Stephen Gibson, all of whom had endured days and nights of heartbreak on Ward Four.

The police wondered if Allitt's composure would crumble as they prepared to escort her to the courtroom in a van with its windows meshed for extra security. One officer said. ‘She didn't ask for a blanket to cover her face. It was as if she was relishing the attention she was getting. If you hadn't known better you'd have thought she didn't realise the implications of what was happening.'