Beverley Allitt

Beverley Allitt was born on 4 October 1968 and grew up in the village of Corby Glen, near the town of Grantham. She had two sisters and a brother. Her father, Richard, worked in an off-licence, and her mother as a school cleaner. Allitt attended Charles Read Secondary Modern School, having failed the test to enter Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School. She would often volunteer for baby-sitting jobs and left school at the age of 16, taking a course in nursing at Grantham College.[9][10]

Allitt had attacked thirteen children, four fatally, over a 59-day period before she was brought up on charges for her crimes. It was only following the death of Peck that medical staff became suspicious of the number of cardiac arrests on the children's ward and police were called in.[12] It was found that Allitt was the only nurse on duty for all the attacks on the children and she also had access to the drugs.

Four of Allitt's victims had died. She was charged with four counts of murder, eleven counts of attempted murder and eleven counts of causing grievous bodily harm. Allitt entered pleas of not guilty to all charges.[13] On 28 May 1993, she was found guilty on each charge and sentenced to thirteen concurrent terms of life imprisonment, which she is serving at Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire.[14][15]

In the 2018 documentary Trevor McDonald and the Killer Nurse, Allitt reportedly told close friends before her trial that she would never go to prison. After one week in prison she refused to eat or drink and was moved to Rampton Secure Hospital. Two leading experts, forensic psychologist Jeremy Coid and criminologist Elizabeth Yardley examined Allitt's mental state when she was arrested and concluded she was not mentally ill and should be in prison, not hospital. Allitt reportedly admitted to all 13 of her crimes in a failed application to remain at Rampton Secure Hospital and permanently avoid prison. None of the families of Allitt's victims had been told of her full confession in the failed application.[16]

On 6 December 2007, Mr Justice Stanley Burnton, sitting in the High Court of Justice, London, confirmed that Allitt must serve the original minimum sentence of thirty years.[17] It was reported that some families of Allitt's victims had previously mistakenly believed that her minimum tariff had been set at forty years.[11]

Allitt's motives have never been fully explained. According to one theory, she showed symptoms of factitious disorder, also known as Munchausen syndrome or Munchausen syndrome by proxy.[18] This disorder is described as involving a pattern of abuse in which a perpetrator ascribes to, or physically falsifies illnesses in, someone under their care to attract attention to themselves.

Allitt was the subject of a book called Murder on Ward Four by Nick Davies. A BBC dramatisation of the case, Angel of Death (2005), featured Charlie Brooks as Allitt.[19] Allitt's story was depicted in episodes of the true crime documentaries Crimes That Shook Great Britain, Deadly Women, Born To Kill?, Evil Up Close, and Nurses Who Kill.[20][21]

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