Nurse found guilty of murdering patients in UK hospital

A nurse has been found guilty at Manchester Crown Court in the UK of murdering and poisoning hospital patients.

Victorino Chua (49), injected insulin into saline bags and ampoules while working on two wards at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport in June and July 2011.

These were then unwittingly used by other nurses on the ward - leading to a series of insulin overdoses to mainly elderly victims.

Chua was convicted of murdering two patients but cleared of a third murder by the jury, which had been deliberating for 11 days.

The prosecution said the Filipino father-of-two had decided to take out his personal frustrations on patients “for reasons truly known only to himself”.

After police were called in, Chua was said to have “changed tack” by sabotaging prescription charts and doubling and trebling dosages - some with potentially lethal consequences - leading to his arrest in January 2012.

Among the evidence produced by the prosecution was a self-penned letter found at Chua’s home in Stockport after his arrest.

In the letter, described as “the bitter nurse confession” by Chua, he said he was “an angel turned into an evil person” and “there’s a devil in me”, who had things he would “take to the grave”.

PA