Hospital Serial Killer: A Jury in the Dark BBC Scotland Investigates

June Morrison makes this 8-hour June Morrison makes this 8-hour

round trip to Durham once a month visit her son. She would like to see

him more but can't. It does hurt that people can see that I've

brought up a monster. Her son is a maximum security prison, serving

at least 30 years. He is no inmate, he is a convicted

This is Leeds, where in 2002 Colin This is Leeds, where in 2002 Colin

Norris, a man with no history of violence or any apparent motive, was

said to go on a six-month killing spree, murdering a series of

patients in his care. He was branded a serial killer, a monster,

Angel of Death. But tonight BBC Scotland reveals the new evidence

which casts serious doubt on his convictions and paves the

Colin Norris to be set free. .

This summer nurse Rebecca Leighton This summer nurse Rebecca Leighton

was thrust into the spotlight after a series of suspicious

insulin-related deaths. The media scrutiny was intense. And, despite

protesting her innocence, Rebecca Leighton was charged. Six weeks

later, all charges were dramatically dropped. She is not the first nurse

to claim they have been wrongly accused of poisoning patients

This is Colin Norris, lashing out at This is Colin Norris, lashing out at

the press during his five-month murder trial in 2008. The case

captivated the nation. Here was nurse charged with poisoning

vulnerable patients with lethal doses of insulin. He was portrayed

by the prosecution as a callous, cold-blooded killer. But by his

side every day of the trial was his mother, June Morrison, convinced of

his innocence. When you are brought in for the verdict,

then? The juror stood up, very softly spoken, and says - she

do you find the not guilty, and they said guilty. I

just thought: did I hear? Did I hear that right? And she repeated it.

I said: yes, I did hear it right. And I just wanted the ground to open

up and take me away. I felt - I ill.

I was scared, very, very scared, and I was scared, very, very scared, and

then I said I'm going to phone my Mum but of course by the time I had

phoned my Mum it was news. She says "I know, I know".

This man was stopped in his tracks This man was stopped in his tracks

This man was stopped in his tracks after he had killed four and

after he had killed four and after he had killed four and

This man was stopped attempted to kill another person.

Harold Shipman went on to hundreds of people. He wasn't

stopped in his tracks. I'm convinced Colin Norris would have gone on

kill considerably more people. Police said he appeared to kill

because he was irritated by them. He appeared to have no other

than being irritated by the frail women. June Morrison has been

fighting to clear her son's name. I meet her after she has met him in

prison. REPORTER: How was it? was quite good. He was good. She

tells me this is the first case where a convicted

himself turns out to be the victim of a grave miscarriage of

But would this mother do anything for her son? I definitely wouldn't

lie for him and Colin knows that. If I did have any doubts I wouldn't

have contacted yourselves, no. I would have still went down to see

him, I mean I'm still his mother, but if I had the least wee bit of

doubt I wouldn't be doing what doing. Born in 1976, Colin was

brought up in a close-knit working class family in Glasgow. As a child,

he was close to his mother and grandmother and pursued a keen

interest in theatre. He actually performed in the King's Theatre with

Princess Margaret. She was the star attraction then.

It was one of the proudest days of It was one of the proudest days of

my life, to see my son graduating with a degree in nursing.

But just 18 months after graduating, But just 18 months after graduating,

But just 18 months after graduating, he was a murder suspect. Thinking

he was a murder suspect. Thinking he was a murder suspect. Thinking

But just 18 months back now, we were a bit naive

because we thought the British justice system, it's the best in the

world. Surely this will, you know, sort itself out, that this can't be

happening. You know, it was like a nightmare, it was like a bad dream.

I've investigated miscarriage of I've investigated miscarriage of

justice cases before, but never when the prisoner protesting his

innocence is a convicted serial killer. How could it be that not

just one but five cases against him are wrong? The case against Colin

Norris can be divided into two clear sections and the first centres on a

single blood test taken from a gravely ill patient. The story

begins at Leeds General Infirmary on the night of 20th November 2002.

recovering from a hip operation. But at 5.00am she was discovered by

nurse Colin Norris in a coma with extremely low blood sugar.

Throughout that morning medics battled to get Ethel Hall's

hypoglycaemia under control and to bring her out of the coma that she

was in. There was no obvious explanation tour her plummeting

blood sugar levels so very quickly doctors began to fear that

have been poisoned with insulin. Insulin is injected by diabetics

because their own bodies are unable to regulate their blood sugar

levels. But if too much is given, the blood sugar drops too low, the

patient becomes hypoglycemic and can fall into a coma, potentially

leading to brain damage and death. Ethel Hall was not diabetic, so a

blood sample was sent to the lab for investigation. The results showed

massive levels of insulin in her blood, so the police were called in.

Ethel Hall would never regain consciousness and died 21 days after

slipping into a coma. This was now murder inquiry.

The inquiry would be led by the The inquiry would be led by the

The inquiry would be led by the senior detective who had conducted a

senior detective who had conducted a senior detective who had conducted a

The inquiry would be led review into the case of Harold

Shipman, the GP who murdered more than 200 of his own patients. When

police heard that Colin Norris had apparently predicted Ethel Hall's

death, he was arrested and for questioning.

This is duty solicitor hails Jim This is duty solicitor hails Jim

Littlehales sitting next to Colin. He was with him throughout the

interviews. He told me all along that he had done nothing, he was not

guilty of an offence. was that of a man saying I am not

guilty. Did it ever come across that he had anything to hide? Never

came across that he had hide to me. A large dose of insulin

which resulted in her death. I just know that I didn't do anything.

I thought this was a joke. I I thought this was a joke. I

I thought this was a joke. I thought: is it serious Colin, is

thought: is it serious Colin, is thought: is it serious Colin, is

I thought this was there somebody playing a joke on

you? He says: no Mum, I was at the police station for 29 hours. I just

couldn't believe it. He was crying like a child that was sobbing, and

couldn't speak. You know, he was the breath - he was crying that hard

that he couldn't speak. He just could not believe that they had

Colin had never been in any form of Colin had never been in any form of

trouble with the police whatsoever. He had I don't think ever been

inside a police station really, apart from perhaps to the front

counter on an odd occasion, as all have, but that was the limit of

his experience. And never police cell? Never.

arrested? Never arrested, never a police cell. He has been found

with a quantity, that much insulin in her. How do you feel that he

co-operated during interview the police? Colin and I took

view right at the outset of the interviews that he had absolutely

nothing to hide, that he should not exercise any right to remain silent,

and that he should co-operate absolutely fully throughout, and

did so. That insulin that was delivered on the 18th has been

injected into Ethel Hall, and that subsequently caused her death.

enough I see what you are but at the same time, if she

injected with it, then surely it would have - if you say, like,

somebody came and injected me that I would say to somebody: wait a

minute, what are you doing? It appeared she had been poisoned with

such a large dose of insulin that it could not have been accidental, but

there was no direct evidence pointing to Colin Norris, and those

who knew him could was in the frame at all.

Emily Cox worked with Colin in the Emily Cox worked with Colin in the

months leading up to his arrest. Colin was portrayed in the

newspapers as a hater of elderly people. That was not the Colin that

I knew. Colin was quite fair to everybody, I thought. He was just

friendly and polite, humorous and respectful, I think. During the

trial, Colin Norris was represented by barrister Paul Williams.

If you have in the back of your mind If you have in the back of your mind

If you have in the back of your mind the very terrible nature of the

the very terrible nature of the the very terrible nature of the

If you have in accusation that he was facing, the

fact that people are willing to come forward and say: no, hang

minute, I know this guy and he not like that, I think that

an awful lot for him really. If anybody needed anything, he was

always there first, giving a hand. Making sure his patients were

after. The patients absolutely loved him. There was one patient in

particular I remember really liked Colin, and she just wanted to grab

his ears and give him a big kiss. He was really an outgoing, friendly,

warm, nice person. I bonded with him really from when I first met him.

Immediately of an Ethel Hall's death, Colin Norris was suspended

from work. He was forced to sell the house he had recently bought and the

pressure of being a murder took its toll. He was so angry and

frustrated because - my personal view about the police down there was

they had Colin as their suspect and they were doing

everything in their power to make him their prime - you know, the

questioning and everything, they decided that it was Colin

was it. They were going to go out all guns firing.

with the police was interpreted as arrogance, a necessary trait perhaps

for a murderer. Is there no one, your boss or anyone that can tell

why I was arrested the first time? You were told at the time why you

were arrested. I was told because I was in charge of a team of patients.

So you can arrest somebody for that, for doing their job? He could be

quite blunt about putting his of view across but I wouldn't call

that arrogance because his point was always valid, it was always a valid

question that he wanted to ask of you. He maybe just didn't sugar coat

it. We are not going to get into a debate about that. I just want a

straight answer. We are not going down that road. Because

want to talk about that. I want to. Can you get me your boss then?

Colin Norris was said to have predicted the time of Ethel's death.

I think Colin Norris in particular I think Colin Norris in particular

I think Colin Norris in particular came into the frame because of some

came into the frame because of some came into the frame because of some

I think Colin Norris of the words that he had said

that night. A phrase something along the lines of: Ethel doesn't look

very well to me, I wouldn't be surprised if she goes off tonight.

It's just something that is said. You know that your patient is not

right and people have made comments, well, if that was the case, every

one of us would be in the jail. This so-called prediction was not direct

evidence against Colin Norris and neither was Ethel Hall's blood test

since, according to the police's own investigations, there were at

16 other nursing staff working close by that night. But it provided the

motivation for the police to target their inquiries around Colin Norris

and on the wards in which he worked, and this would give them their

They started working back through They started working back through

patient notes, reviewing all the cases over the previous two years

which involved hypoglycaemia, even though they had all been classed

the time as natural deaths. What the prosecution did was they approached

a team of medical people who, together, as a panel, reviewed

excess of 70 patients to see if they were suspicious deaths. The panel

identified four new cases in two different hospitals. Doris Ludlam,

Bridget Bourke and Irene Crookes all died after falling into hypoglycemic

comas. Vera Wilby had a similar episode but recovered and died

months later from unconnected causes. The experts said the deaths

were non-accidental and that they linked him by way of his duties in

both the LGI and St James' Hospital as being the one common denominator.

Colin Norris was the only nurse on shift on these wards around the time

of all five incidents. Like Ethel Hall, the other four cases had

severe episodes of unexplained blood sugar, but because they were

old and frail, none of their conditions had aroused

How am I supposed to have done it How am I supposed to have done it

without anybody else noticing when we've already established that

there's, like, 24 or 28 patients a ward plus other members of staff,

plus people walking on and off? It's all circumstantial, it all

him in the right place at the time but that only matters if you

have got five patients. If you've only got one, then it doesn't

matter at all. So the strength of the evidence was that, to have a

cluster of five cases of severe hypoglycaemia was so rare, it

mean murder. I'm putting it to you that you've murdered those women by

injecting them with insulin and that you attempted to murder Vera Wilby

by injecting her with insulin. I know, you've already said. I'm not

going to admit to anything that I've not done and I never murdered

anybody, didn't inject anybody anything and I don't think

facts are good enough. I'm sorry. But they were good enough to

him with four murders and then attempted murder, and send him to

I was physically and violently sick. I was physically and violently sick.

On and off for hours until Raymond came down, and I was still

through the night as well. I just could not believe, but very, very

frightened at the same time, very scared.

So there were two main planks of So there were two main planks of

evidence: first, the Ethel blood test; second, this rare

cluster of deaths. What about the first plank? Just how reliable are

these types of blood test? Marks believes Ethel Hall's test

does indicate foul play. I am satisfied that, as certain as I can

be, that somebody at some time, and I cannot tell you at what time, I

cannot tell you how much or even what type of insulin, somebody gave

her insulin and that that explains the clinical picture, it explains

But these blood tests, or But these blood tests, or

But these blood tests, or immunoassays, as they are called,

immunoassays, as they are called, immunoassays, as they are called,

But these blood tests, can sometimes get it badly wrong. In

America, after a series of false immunoassay results, Jennifer Rufer

learned this to her cost. Jennifer Rufer went through a year of

chemotherapy, a hysterectomy and doctors removed part of a lung. Then

she learned she never had cancer. The test was wrong. One in every 250

results can be erroneous, can be wrong, can be misleading,

falls positive or false negative in laboratory parlance. Dr Ismail

leading authority on this research, conducting extensive research

more than 20 years. When you consider we are doing more than

million tests in this country - Immunoassay tests?

More than 10 million tests, you can work out how many erroneous results

are caused each year, which may cause mismanagement, can sometimes

cause surgery and treatment for phantom disease. I think I work that

out as 40,000. Yes. So you are saying there are around

potentially wrong results? That is what I am saying.

Every year? Every year. So could the blood test have

Ethel Hall's case? Her symptoms fitted medics' suspicions

had been poisoned with insulin and the blood test appeared to confirm

that but no further blood samples were taken to make sure the

test was true. One additional sample taken a few hours earlier or later

than the one, the single one which is used, would have been immensely

helpful and it wasn't done. Which very unfortunate. None of these

cases were investigated as if they were forensic cases. That applies

particularly to Mrs Hall there was the suspicion from the

very beginning, and all I could is that it's a great shame that

was not investigated more thoroughly. But also Dr Ismail

thinks there could be a reason for Ethel Hall's symptoms,

which could explain the blood test result, a condition called

autoimmune hypoglycaemia. I was just a bit concerned that a natural

pathology called insulin autoimmune hypoglycaemia, very rare, but you

must remember that nurses and doctors injecting insulin

patients is also rare, so we are talking about two rare conditions,

to exclude insulin autoimmune hypoglycaemia syndrome was also

important. But this condition, although rare, cannot be

definitively excluded because not all of the available laboratory

tests were done. Dr Ismail put this evidence at trial

and it raises serious questions over the first plank of the prosecution

evidence, the Ethel Hall blood test, but even if you accept that the

blood test is right, to Colin Norris you also have to accept

the second plank of evidence, that there was a unique

cluster of deaths at the hospitals and that Colin Norris was the one

common denominator. We looked into that and we found another case,

patient BD, who had, after we had looked at her medical records,

had very similar signs and symptoms that the prosecution were relying

on, to say that some other had been killed, and when we looked

into that it was impossible Colin Norris to have done that

because he wasn't at the hospital the time, and so, if the prosecution

scenario was correct, that these signs of symptoms prove a killing,

then there's somebody else there killing and it's not Colin Norris.

And amongst the boxes of material And amongst the boxes of material

not used in evidence we found another case, that of Lucy Rowell. I

had the call on the Saturday morning, and, like I said, saw

Grandma on the Friday night, colour in her cheeks, best we had

since the operation, and really thought that she was on the road

recovery. But just like the others, she developed hypoglycaemia and fell

into a coma from which she did not recover. According to her family,

soon after Lucy's death detectives knocked on their

knocked on their door to they were investigating the case as

a potential murder. They was looking at a male nurse that had

been working every evening when, you know, Grandma slipped into a coma -

Along with the other patients. Along with the other patients that

had died and they left us for about ten, 11 months, thinking that

Grandma had been murdered and then came back and told thaws the

investigation are - told us that the investigation had gone further down

the line and that Grandma's case wasn't one and this particular male

nurse that they had been pursuing wasn't working the night that

Grandma slipped into the coma. And they brought his time sheet. His

rota sheet to prove to us that he wasn't working. So she went from

being suspicious to non-suspicious. Just because he wasn't working?

Yes. Yes. The medical review said Lucy Rowell could also have

died from factors not related insulin poisoning, but during the

trial the prosecution was accused of using double standards in their

selection of cases. Solicitor Moore has reviewed the trial papers

and has taken Colin's case on. What it seems to me is, having satisfied

themselves that Ethel Hall was murdered, and having put Colin

Norris in their minds as the prime suspect for her murder, it seems

that they trawled through records looking for evidence of

patients who might have died suspiciously, but it seems that

only cherry picked those cases Colin Norris was on duty and

any others that might have occurred in the hospital.

We can now reveal the evidence that We can now reveal the evidence that

the jury did not get to hear. were told that this cluster of

was so rare, so unusual, that it must mean murder, but new

has just emerged which could fatally expose that claim as

means that this guilty verdict was reached by a jury in the dark. The

world's leading expert on insulin poisoning, Professor Vincent Marks,

has produced new scientific evidence about the cluster of four cases. My

first impression was that they had hypoglycaemia, and then I thought

"What's the evidence for insulin?", and the more I went into it,

less convinced I was that there was any evidence for insulin. No insulin

tests were done on these women and Professor Marks says their severe

hypoglycaemia is explained by their underlying conditions. These

patients all had other risk factors which included emaciation,

starvation, because she hadn't been fed, infection, cardiac failure,

renal failure. They were all at very high risk of developing

hypoglycaemia. But key to this was the long-held belief that a

cluster of hypoglycemic comas in non-diabetics was extraordinary so

Professor Marks undertook search of all the new international

medical studies carried out since 2008 which he says proves

belief is wrong. I was surprised at how very common it is in this

particular group of elderly, sick people. In one very detailed survey

of thousands of patients, it was up to 10%. In others, it was 5%, and so

on, and I thought, well, you know, it's not that rare after all. So if

what you are saying is that up to 10% of the elderly, sick - Very

elderly, sick, with risk factors, yes. - can have this condition,

then a cluster of four or even five patients within the period of a year

is not that unusual? It wouldn't unusual if you were looking through

a hospital that had several thousand people over the age of 70 who were

sick, and so on, over the course of a year, not at all. So

opinion then the convictions Colin Norris in these four cases are

not safe? I think that using those four cases as evidence of

administration, I think is unsafe. And so it can no longer be said for

sure that these four cases were down to insulin poisoning, nor that they

were so especially rare as to make this so-called cluster significant.

Without these cases we are left principally with the Ethel

blood test, and there may even be considerable doubt over

according to the evidence that heard. Colin Norris will not be

eligible for parole until the year 2038. He will be 62. So the question

is: has a completely innocent man been wrongly imprisoned as

It's my view, from having looked at It's my view, from having looked at

the evidence in the case and from my knowledge of Colin that he is an

innocent man and this conviction ought to be quashed. The entire

case was built on a foundation which is unsound. The new evidence would

blow effectively a very large in what was the central plank of the

prosecution case. The new scientific evidence is incredibly

indeed. I do believe the system will eventually prove that there has been

a miscarriage of justice and he will be a free man. Whether it takes

another two years, another five years, I don't know, but I do - I've

got to believe that that will happen. I've got to believe in that.

On the strength of the new evidence On the strength of the new evidence