Beverley Allitt killed several children under her care. Her Munchhausen by Proxy syndrome had gotten out of hand, right as she became a nurse and started hurting defenseless kids.
Beverley Allitt worked as a State enrolled nurse in the children’s ward of the Grantham and Kesteven hospital in Lincolnshire, England. She was convicted of murdering four children and attempting to kill three others and causing harm to six more, some of them could barely stand on their own, this act on the kids earned her name of The Angel of Death.
Born in 1968, Allitt’s killing spree lasted for 59 days, spanning from winter to springs of 1991. The methods she used would make you hate her even more. She injected large quantities of insulin, or simply syringe-derived air bubbles into her underage victims.
After she was caught, she has received thirteen life sentences, and as told by Justice Latham that she posed “a serious danger ” to others unless she was forcibly removed from society. Allitt remains behind bars to this day, at Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire.
A troubled Kid to Angel of Death
Beverley Gail Allitt was born on Oct. 4, 1968, in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. Beverley Allitt exhibited some worrying tendencies early on while growing up as one of the four children. She was an attention seeker, she would wear bandages and casts over wounds and by doing so she would draw attention to herself and not allowing anyone to examine the injuries.
As she reached adolescent age she started gaining weight and became increasingly attention-seeking, often showing aggression towards others. This behavior appeared to be typical of Munchausen’s syndrome and when she didn’t get the attention she wanted she harmed others in order to get noticed.
Allitt was a regular for the hospital’s staff and the medical practitioners became familiar with her attention-seeking behavior, she spent considerable time in hospital seeking medical attention. This didn’t just stop here once she actually got what she deserved and had her appendix removed, which by all accounts was entirely healthy and functioning as it should, as she insisted on interfering with the surgical scar.
When Allitt didn’t receive the attention he desperately sought from others, her self-harm began to be redirected towards others. unfortunately around this time, she decided to become a nurse.
Angel of Death as a Nurse.
She was soon suspected of the odd behavior, such as when she started smearing feces on walls in a nursing home where she trained and not attending her training as required. She failed her examinations numerous times and dure to the understaffed hospital she was offered a six-month contract at the Grantham and Kesteven Hospital in Lincolnshire in 1991.
Allitt was designated to work in Children’s ward 4, with only two other nurses on staff, who unlike her were trained and passed the examinations. One for the night shift and one for the day shift. This might explain how her violent and attention-seeking behavior went undetected and the killings.
Crimes of Beverley Allitt
Beverley Allitt’s first victim was a 7-month-old Liam Taylor, who was admitted to Ward 4 with a chest infection on February 21, 1991. Allitt reassured his parents that their son was in capable hands and persuaded them to go home to get some rest. When the parents returned she told them that their son had suffered a respiratory emergency but he is stable now.
The following night, the 7-month-old boy had another respiratory emergency and Allitt was left alone with the boy, however, the condition worsened dramatically. The boy becomes deathly pale before red blotches appeared on his face. The champion boy survived again but he had already suffered extensive brain damage. On the medical device, his parents made the agonizing decision to pull the plug.
Alilitt’s second victim was an 11-year-old cerebral palsy patient Timothy Hardwick who was transferred to Ward of death, Ward 4 after he suffered an epileptic fit on March 4, 1991. Allitt was again in charge of a defenseless boy. She summoned the emergency resuscitation team, who found him without a pulse and turning blue. Despite their best efforts, the team was unable to revive him.
Her third victim was a 1-year-old girl Kayley Desmond who was admitted on March 3, 1991, with a chest infection from which she seemed to be recovering without any issue. Five days later after a period of time alone with Allitt, Kayley went into Cardiac arrest on the same bed where Liam Taylor had died nights before.
Kayley was successfully revived and transferred to a different hospital nearby, however, this was the first time the physicians discovered signs of foul play as there was a puncture wound her armpit and an adjacent air bubble. Unfortunately, this was analyzed as an accidental injection, allowing Beverley Allittto to retain her shroud of secrecy.
Paul Crampton, a five-month-old patient with a bronchial infection was Beverley Allitt’s fourth victim. He suffered an insulin shock on March 20, 1991, and was on the verge of going into a coma three separate times. Each time the doctors revived him but the doctors were shocked by his hight insulin levels. He was transferred to another hospital with Allitt his insulin levels were again severely abnormal. He survived.
Bradley Gibson became her next victim. He was suffering from pneumonia and somehow he suffered a cardiac arrest, he was successfully resuscitated and what confused the doctors was his high insulin levels which were the case with Paul Crampton.
Bradley had another heart attack and was transported to another hospital and recovered very well. What caught no one’s eyes is that Allitt was present along with the victims.
Two-year-old Yik Hung Chan was saved by induced oxygen after he turned blue on March 22, 1991. Little did everyone know that his second heart attack saved him as the parents decided to transfer the child to another hospital.
Beverley Allett turned her attention to the twins, Katie and Becky Philips 2-month-old-twins were kept in for observations as a result of their premature delivery, Gastro-enteritis brought Becky into ward 4 on April 1, 1991. Two days later, Alitt said Becky could be hypoglycemic and possibly cold to the touch. The indent was sent home to her mother. The same night she convulsed, cried out and died.
The other twin Katie was still under Allitts care. Can you imagine what happened next? Yes. Another respiratory issue occurred and the resuscitation was successful.
Katie experienced the same emergency two days later and was transferred to Nottingham, where the doctors discovered that five of her ribs were broken and that she had severe brain damage.
After watching her child survive Katie’s mother was so thankful to Allitt that she even asked the “Angel of Death” to become Katie’s godmother. Beverley Allitt accepted even after causing the child partial paralysis, cerebral palsy and sight, and hearing damage.
Suspicions were raised when records checks revealed missing daily nursing logs, which corresponded to the time period when Paun Crampton had been in Ward 2. With 25 suspicious incidents and 4 of them dead, the only common factor was the presence of Beverley Alitt at every single incident.
Investigation and Trial
Stuart Clifton, the police superintendent assigned to the investigation, suspected found play as there have been many similar cases in the past 2 months, high insulin dosage and cardiac arrest. Further investigation revealed that Allitt had reported the key missing to the insulin refrigerator. The records were checked and the security camera outside ward 4 did the rest.
By July 26, 1991, police felt that they had enough evidence to charge Allitt with murder . Nonetheless they wait until November to avoid any irrevocable investigative misstep.
Allitt showed calm and restraint under interrogation, and denied any parts in the attacks, insisting they had merely been caring for the victims and she had nothing to do with the high insulin found. When checked her records, they realized they she might’ve been suffering from a personality disorder for years. Her Munchausen’s by Proxy, inflicting injury on others to gain attention for oneself.
After delays in trials due to her illness, she went tot rial at Nottingham Crown Court on February 15, 1993. The prosecutors showed that all the episodes happened when she was present in Ward 4 and none when she was taken off. Evidence about high insulin and potassium in each of the victims. She was also accused of the cutting of her victim’s oxygen, wither by smothering, or by tampering with machines.
Professor Roy Meadow explained Munchausen’s syndrome to the jury and made clear to everyone that Beverley Allitt would never be cured, making her a clear danger to anyone with who she might come in contact.
After a trial that lasted nearly 8 weeks as she was ill for 16 days. Allie was convicted on May 23, 1993, and was given 13 life sentences for murder and attempted murder.
The aftermath of killings
The impact of Beverley Allitt’s case was such severe that the Maternity Unit was closed down altogether in the Grantham & Kesteven Hospital. Rather than going to jail, Allitt was incarcerated at Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottingham. A place mainly for individuals detained under the Mental Health Act
Her attention behavior was seen again, ingesting ground glass and pouring boiling water on her hand. She has subsequently admitted to three of the murders which she was charged and six of the assaults.
Recently she was the subject of Mirror Newspaper inquiry in May 2005, when it was revealed that she received over $400,000 in State benefits since her incarceration in 1993.
Beverley Allitt applied for a review of her sentence in August 2006, when the probation service contacted the victim’s families about the process. they denied and Beverley Allitt remains in Rampton.
