The ‘Angel of Death’ who murdered four children and tried to kill three others: How serial killer nurse Beverley Allitt befriended the youngster’s parents and stole their medical notes, then lied to police when she was caught… while she was made a bid for freedom

She was the nurse who became known as the ‘Angel of Death’.

In 1991, Beverley Allitt murdered four children in just 59 days at Grantham Hospital in Lincolnshire, where she worked as a nurse.

Liam Taylor, seven weeks, Timothy Hardwick, 11, Becky Phillips, two months, and Claire Peck, 15 months, all died at the hands of the killer nurse, who tried to kill three others and seriously injured six others.

When police raided her home, they found a syringe, a hospital pillowcase and a book detailing who was assigned to each child and when.

But after she was convicted, the deranged killer spent just a week in jail before she was diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and transferred to a secure hospital.

Today it emerged that Allitt – who injected some of her victims with dangerous amounts of insulin – will appear before a panel of experts in her first steps towards release.

She will appear before a mental health tribunal for the first time since her sentence began, where she will be assessed for possible transfer to a regular prison.

All the children murdered by Allitt had died after being taken to the nursing ward with minor complaints, such as respiratory infections and gastroenteritis.

The pediatric nurse claimed her first victim, eight-week-old Liam Taylor, on February 23, 1991, by injecting him with a large dose of insulin.

She murdered 11-year-old Timothy Hardwick on March 5 that year after he was admitted to the ward after suffering an epileptic fit.

In April that year, she gave two-month-old Becky Phillips an overdose of insulin after she was admitted to the ward for gastroenteritis.

One-year-old Claire Peck died after being left alone with Allitt following an asthma attack, also in April 1991.

Allitt had flatly denied her crimes but was sentenced at trial in 1993 to 30 years behind bars, almost all of which she spent in Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

Former police officer Stuart Clifton, who was a chief inspector at Licolnshire Police when he investigated Allitt, recently told the Mail she wanted to be the center of attention.

‘She wanted to be the one who was there, the one who raised the alarm, the one who went into the ambulance with the child when he was transferred to another hospital.

“It was almost as if she was putting herself first and felt like she needed the adoration of other nurses and parents.

“Maybe part of this was to show that she was capable of doing the job, but obviously it went beyond that.

‘It got to the stage where she caused the injury which she then highlighted.’

Police arrested Allitt after analyzing blood samples from two of the deceased children: Paul Crampton and Becky Phillips.

Both had abnormally high levels of insulin and Allitt turned out to be the last person to have the key to the locked refrigerator where the drug was kept.

Mr Clifton said: ‘We have sent a sample of Paul’s blood to an expert in insulin poisoning.

‘The results were shocking, it was the second highest ever recorded – the first was a doctor who deliberately died by suicide after overdosing on insulin.

‘Insulin in the wards was kept in locked refrigerators at the time and was not signed for, but taken on demand.

‘And shortly before Allitt’s ‘collapse’ began, the key to the locked refrigerator in the children’s wards disappeared.

‘The last person to have it was Beverley Allitt. No investigation was conducted by the hospital and that key was never found.’

He added that she was the only nurse who was “consistently” present every time one of the children collapsed.

The nurse also appeared to have built relationships with the children and their parents to gain their trust.

After Becky Phillips’ murder, Allitt inflicted brain damage on her twin sister, leaving her with lifelong disabilities.

But she befriended the girls’ mother and convinced her that she had saved her other daughter’s life. The mother then asked Allitt to become her daughter’s godmother.

“She seemed very capable, had everything under control, and I trusted her,” mother Sue Phillips told Allitt during the trial.

Speaking about the discovery of the hospital notebook during the raid on Allitt’s home, Mr Clifton said: ‘The ward sister owned a similar book – the pages covering the time of the Ward Four collapse had been torn out.’

In 2018, recordings of Allitt’s denials to police about her attempt on the life of young victim Paul Crampton were broadcast in a documentary.

The interview tapes, broadcast on Trevor McDonald and the Killer Nurse, record Allitt being interrogated by Detective Inspector Neil Jones.

After being told she was the prime suspect in the murder investigation, she responded, “I know everything points to me, but what can I do to say that’s not the case?”

“I told you I didn’t do it, and I wouldn’t dream of doing it to anyone. Why a patient? If I hated someone so much…

She continued: ‘I’m actually going to sneak back into the department and say, ‘Oh yeah, here, have a bit of this.’

“As much as you don’t believe me, and I know you don’t, I don’t care. I can’t lie to you. I’m not going to sit here and lie to you for days while I’m being interrogated.”

When the detective confronted her about her access to the insulin that injured Paul, she responded, “No matter what you say, I stand by my story, I didn’t do it…I’ll be here all year.” You can keep me all year long.