Clinical Negligence Solicitors

A male nurse has been found guilty of murdering two patients and poisoning 20 other by injection insulin into saline bags and ampoules.

BBC News reports that nurse Victorino Chua, 49, was convicted of the murder of 44-year-old Tracey Arden and 83-year-old Derek Weaver at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

The father-of-two was cleared of the murder of a third patient, 81-year-old Arnold Lancaster, but was convicted of poisoning him.

The court heard that Chua – originally from the Philippines – tampered with saline bags and ampoules and then left them for other nursing staff to use, who were unaware of Chua’s actions.

Most of Chua’s victims were elderly, the court was told – and the incidents took place between June 2011 and January 2012.

Many of Chua’s victims also had complex illnesses and after police were called in to investigate, he then switched his tactics to sabotaging prescription charts, including doubling and trebling dosages.

Chua had denied to police any involvement or wrong doing, but evidence produced by the prosecution included a self-penned letter found at Chua's home in Stockport, in which he admitted he was taking out his own personal frustrations on patients.

It has not been discovered why Chua felt the need to do this, however. His defence team argued that he had been arrested after another suspect had been cleared of any wrongdoing, leaving the prosecution “desperate” to find another suspect.

After an 11-day trial, a jury at Manchester Crown Court found Chua guilty of murdering two patients and causing harm to others.

After the hearing, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the case was the force’s “biggest case in a decade” – and police and detectives hugged members of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) legal team after the jury left court.

Ben Southam from the CPS said the “complex case” was an “enormous task”, involving thousands of pages of evidence.
Outside the court, Detective Superintendent Simon Barraclough said:

“It's been a search for the truth and the jury has reached the right decision.”

However, there is now concern that Chua might not even be qualified as a nurse.

GMP officers travelled to the capital of the Philippines, Manila, and discovered inconsistencies between Chua’s two nursing certificates.

Det Supt Barraclough said:

“Those certificates don't correspond to each other – even assuming one of them is right, the other is not.
“All I can say is, we have absolutely no confidence that those are bona-fide qualifications.

“You have to present yourself with a photo of who you are to take the exam.

“When I look at that photograph, to me the person who presented to do that exam does not look remotely like Victorino Chua.”

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said that when Chua was employed, the usual checks were made, including checking the Nursing and Midwifery Council register, which Chua was registered on.

He will be sentenced on Tuesday (19/05//15).

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