Deaths probe at hospital where nurses drugged patients

NINE deaths are being investigated at the hospital unit where two nurses drugged and abused frail patients to make them more compliant.

- Cyril Dixon

Police are looking into the suspected murder of grandmother Valerie Kneale, 75, while a coroner is examining the deaths of eight other people.

All were patients in the stroke unit of Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

Details of the inquiries emerged after nurse Catherine Hudson, 54, and Charlotte Wilmot, 48, were this week convicted at Preston Crown Court.

Both admitted conspiracy to steal drugs and were convicted of conspiracy to ill-treat patients by administering sedatives on the stroke unit.

Hudson also admitted perverting the course of justice and was found guilty of ill-treatment, while Wilmot was convicted of encouraging her to sedate a patient. The court heard they swapped sickening WhatsApp phone messages.