A nurse and a healthcare worker have been jailed after patients were sedated for an “easy shift” and “amusement”.
Catherine Hudson, 54, and Charlotte Wilmot, 48, ill-treated those in their care on a stroke unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital in Lancashire between February 2017 and November 2018, the trial heard.
Sentencing the pair at Preston Crown Court, Judge Robert Altham said their duty was to protect and care for their patients, who were “as vulnerable as anyone could be”.
Instead they “exploited them for an easy shift, for amusement, and to exercise a contemptuous power over them,” he said.
Hudson, who was described as the “leading offender”, was sentenced to seven years and two months in prison.
The court heard she sedated “all the troublemakers” and those she considered “a nightmare”.
Wilmot, who was supervised by Hudson, was sentenced to three years in prison.
Hudson was found guilty of ill-treating two patients. Both women were found guilty of conspiracy to ill-treat a patient by administering sedatives.
Wilmot was also found guilty of encouraging Hudson to sedate a patient, while Hudson was found guilty of theft of the drug Mebeverine from an end-of-life patient.
She pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to conspiring with other colleagues to steal other drugs including Zopiclone and also a further offence of perverting the course of justice. Wilmot had also pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal medication from the hospital.
Police were alerted in November 2018 to investigate after a whistleblowing student nurse on a work placement said Hudson suggested administering unprescribed Zopiclone to a patient – 76-year-old Aileen Scott.
Zopiclone is a class C controlled drug and is potentially life-threatening if given inappropriately to acutely unwell patients, the court heard.
The student nurse was further troubled when Hudson commented: “Well she’s got a DNAR (do not attempt resuscitation) in place so she wouldn’t be opened up if she died or like if it came to any harm.”
Ms Scott had been rushed to Blackpool Victoria after suffering a stroke in her room at the Imperial Hotel and was completely paralysed on the left side of her body.
Whistleblower’s ‘bravery saved mum’s life’
Her son, Brian Scott, told the court the “bravery” of the whistleblower had “most likely saved my mum’s life”.
Giving his victim personal statement from the witness box, he turned to Hudson in the dock, and added: “Thanks to the bravery of a student nurse in highlighting you and your evil and uncaring ways, it has most likely saved my mum’s life.
“The way you spoke about them (patients) is beyond belief and nothing short of wicked and pure evil.”
Speaking outside court, Mr Scott said he was “delighted” with the sentences as he described the behaviour of those involved as “absolutely heartbreaking”.
“During the trial, there was mention of ‘we will take this to the grave’. But they didn’t, they were found out,” he said.
WhatsApp messages revealed ‘culture of abuse’
Prosecutors said a “culture of abuse” was revealed on the unit when police examined WhatsApp phone messages between the co-defendants and other members of staff.
Hudson wrote about one of her victims: “I sedated one of them to within an inch of her life lol. Bet she’s flat for a week haha xxx.”
In a message exchange about an elderly male patient, Hudson wrote: “I’m going to kill bed 5 xxx.”
Wilmot replied: “Pmsl (pissing myself laughing) well tonight sedate him to high heaven lol xxx.”
Hudson replied: “Already in my head to give him double!!”
Giving evidence, both defendants denied all the allegations and claimed the private messages were “banter” and not supposed to be taken seriously.
They said the “gallows humour” was the venting of their frustrations at working in a chronically understaffed unit.
The man who served 14 years in jail for the murder of schoolboy Jimmy Mizen has been recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions.
It follows reporting in The Sun newspaper that Jake Fahri, 35, was a drill rapper releasing music under the name TEN, who conceals his identity with a balaclava, and was played on BBC 1Xtra.
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with Jimmy Mizen’s family who deserve better than to see their son’s murderer shamelessly boasting about his violent crime.”
Jimmy’s father Barry told Sky News: “We’re not gloating or anything, in a way it’s quite sad.”
His son bled to death after Fahri threw an oven dish at him in a south London bakery on 10 May 2008.
The dish shattered on his chin and severed an artery in the schoolboy’s neck.
Fahri was 19 when he was given a life sentence in 2009 with a minimum term of 14 years and was released on licence in June 2023.
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His music was played on BBC 1Xtra less than 18 months later, the Sun reported, adding that DJ Theo Johnson named him an “up-and-coming star”.
Jimmy’s father earlier said he and his wife Margaret were “stunned into silence” when they were told about Fahri’s music, which often features violent themes.
In one song, which appears to reference Jimmy’s death, he raps about “sharpening” a blade.
“Judge took a look at me, before the trial even started he already knows he’s gonna throw the book at me,” the lyrics say.
Another track includes the lines: “See a man’s soul fly from his eyes and his breath gone… I wanted more, it made it less wrong. Seeing blood spilled same floor he was left on.”
The BBC has said the artist’s tracks do not feature on any BBC playlists, and that a track which appeared to reference Jimmy’s death had never been played on its channels.
A spokesman for the broadcaster added there were “no further plans to play his music”, adding: “We were not aware of his background and we in no way condone his actions.”
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “All offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions. As this case shows, we will recall them to prison if they break the rules.”
Jimmy’s parents founded the Mizen Foundation after their son’s death. The charity helps young people in London who are escaping violence.
Mr Mizen said: “It appears that if he’s been recalled to prison, he must’ve breached his licence conditions
The man suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann won’t face any charges in the foreseeable future, a prosecutor has told Sky News.
German drifter Christian B, who cannot be fully identified under his country’s privacy law, is expected to be freed from an unrelated jail sentence this year while police in three countries continue to search for evidence against him.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: “There is currently no prospect of an indictment in the Maddie case.
“As things stand, the accused Christian B’s imprisonment will end in early September.”
Madeleine, aged three, was asleep with her younger twin siblings in the family’s Portuguese rented holiday apartment before mother Kate discovered her missing at around 10pm on 3 May, 2007.
Her parents were dining nearby on the complex with friends and taking turns to check on all their sleeping children every half an hour.
Madeleine’s disappearance has become the world’s most mysterious missing child case.
Philipp Marquort, one of Christian B’s defence lawyers, welcomed the prosecutor’s pessimism about bringing charges.
He said: “This confirms the suspicions that we have repeatedly expressed, namely that there is no reliable evidence against our client.
“We regret that we have not yet been granted access to the investigation files. We have not yet been able to effectively counter the public prejudice arising from statements made by the prosecutor’s office.”
Christian B, 47, is in jail and coming to the end of his sentence for the rape of an elderly American woman in Praia da Luz, the Portuguese resort where Madeleine disappeared.
In October, he was acquitted on a series of rape and indecent assault charges after a non-jury trial in Germany, in which several references were made to his status as the main suspect in the Madeleine case.
The prosecutor said he was awaiting the court’s written judgment before launching an appeal against the acquittal. He believes the trial judges were biased against the prosecution.
If successful, he could apply for a new arrest warrant for Christian B to keep him in custody until a retrial with new judges.
He said: “We hope that the Federal Court of Justice will decide before the end of the accused’s imprisonment. If the Federal Court follows our legal opinion, we could apply for a new arrest warrant for the accused’s offences, so that the accused would then remain in custody beyond September 2025.
Mr Marquort said the defence team would oppose the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal.
Prosecutor Mr Wolters has said in the past that he believes Madeleine is dead and that Christian B was responsible for her death. The suspect denies any involvement.
The case against Christian B is purely circumstantial; he’s alleged to have confessed to a friend that he abducted Madeleine, he has convictions for sex crimes against children, he was living in the area at the time, his mobile phone was close by when the young girl vanished and he re-registered one of his vehicles the next day.
The prosecutor won’t say what evidence he has to convince him Madeleine is dead, but he admitted he is still trying to find forensic evidence to link Christian B to the girl.
Jim Gamble, former head of the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre, said he had expected the prosecutor to charge Christian B soon.
“He’s implied the whole way through that he has something more than the public are aware of,” he said.
“He’s made fairly definitive statements about whether Madeleine is alive or dead so you would expect their strategy to have been to charge him sooner rather than later.
“From what he’s said today I wonder if we’re witnessing the re-positioning of something to manage the disappointment that’ll come.”
Mr Wolters, who is based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, is investigating the case with the help of Portuguese police and detectives from Scotland Yard.
An investigation, led by the Surrey and Sussex Police Major Crime Team, is under way and inquiries remain ongoing, police said.
Senior Investigating Officer DCI Kimball Edey said specialist officers “are working around the clock to gather as much information as possible,” and that the force’s “thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims at this unbelievably difficult time”.