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18/06/2004
Ward Sister sentenced to five years for attempted murder
A nurse has been found guilty today of the attempted murder of two elderly patients in a Crewe hospital.
Former Ward Sister, Barbara Salisbury, 48, from Pontybodkin in north Wales, received two five-year sentences to run concurrently at Chester Crown Court on Friday. She was convicted on two counts of attempted murder in relation to 88-year-old May Taylor and 92-year-old Frank Owen.
Earlier, Salisbury had been cleared on two further charges, that of the attempted murders of 76-year-old James Byrne, and 81-year-old Reuben Thompson.
She had denied all four charges.
Sentencing Salisbury on Friday, Mr Justice Pitchford told her "it is impossible for me to fathom what it was to cause you to act as you did".
During the six-week trial, the court heard that overdoses of diamorphine were alleged to have been given to the geriatric patients who were then placed flat on their backs to drown in their own lung secretions.
The prosecution contended that Salisbury had a "ruthless" desire to free up beds in her ward.
An investigation was commenced when two nurses filed complaints with hospital management. Salisbury, who is married with two children, denied all the allegations, but admitted that she may have comforted one of the dying patients, saying, "it's OK to go now", in the man's final moments.
All four of the elderly patients who had been admitted to Leighton Hospital in Crewe have since died.
(SP)
Former Ward Sister, Barbara Salisbury, 48, from Pontybodkin in north Wales, received two five-year sentences to run concurrently at Chester Crown Court on Friday. She was convicted on two counts of attempted murder in relation to 88-year-old May Taylor and 92-year-old Frank Owen.
Earlier, Salisbury had been cleared on two further charges, that of the attempted murders of 76-year-old James Byrne, and 81-year-old Reuben Thompson.
She had denied all four charges.
Sentencing Salisbury on Friday, Mr Justice Pitchford told her "it is impossible for me to fathom what it was to cause you to act as you did".
During the six-week trial, the court heard that overdoses of diamorphine were alleged to have been given to the geriatric patients who were then placed flat on their backs to drown in their own lung secretions.
The prosecution contended that Salisbury had a "ruthless" desire to free up beds in her ward.
An investigation was commenced when two nurses filed complaints with hospital management. Salisbury, who is married with two children, denied all the allegations, but admitted that she may have comforted one of the dying patients, saying, "it's OK to go now", in the man's final moments.
All four of the elderly patients who had been admitted to Leighton Hospital in Crewe have since died.
(SP)
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