A British nurse standing trial in connection with the deaths of seven babies has been accused of being a “poisoner”.
Speaking for the prosecution Monday, attorney Nick Johnson said that the child deaths at the hospital’s neo-natal unit were statisticallycomparable to other unitsin the U.K. before January 2015, reportedThe Independent.
Countess of Chester Hospital.Anthony Devlin/Getty Images
According to Johnson, this drastically changed over the next 18 months, during which the hospital witnessed a"significant rise in the number of babies who were dying and in the number of serious catastrophic collapses," addedThe Independent.
“It is a hospital like so many others in the U.K. but unlike many other hospitals in the U.K., and unlike many other neonatal units in the UK, within the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital a poisoner was at work,” he added, per the outlet.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
“The collapses of all 17 children concerned were not ‘naturally occurring tragedies,'” Johnson continued. “They were all the work, we say, of the woman in the dock, who we say was the constant, malevolent presence when things took a turn for the worse for these 17 children.”
She “was subsequently bailed pending further enquiries,” added the release.
One year later she was rearrested “on suspicion of murder in relation to the deaths of 8 babies and the attempted murder of 6 babies,” as well as “the attempted murder of three additional babies,” Cheshire Police continued.
source: people.com
