After medical staff raised the alarm and an extensive investigation ensued, Allitt was finally caught. But where is she now and how were her crimes exposed? Allitt, 50, nicknamed the Angel of Death, is a convicted baby killer. In , year-old Allitt left school with just a handful of qualifications, before beginning nurse training at Grantham College.
Despite being under-qualified, she was taken on in December due to severe staff shortages on Ward Four, where children were cared for. While left alone with her victims, Allitt committed the murders either by insulin or potassium overdose, or injecting an air bubble into the bloodstream, which can cause lung collapse. Despite being hooked up to alarms to monitor his breathing and oxygen levels, doctors were only alerted by Allitt. Timothy Hardwick, 11, had cerebral palsy and was admitted to the ward after suffering an epileptic seizure.
Within hours, the nurse attempted to kill Katie four times by suffocation and injections of insulin and potassium. Claire Peck, 15 months, was admitted to the ward after suffering an asthma attack on April 22, After being put on a ventilator, she was left in Allitt's care and then went into cardiac arrest.
She was resuscitated but died after a second episode of the cardiac arrest - during a second interval when she was left alone with Allitt.
The Beverley Allitt Tapes — a documentary about the nurse convicted of murdering several children in — is arriving on Sky Crime in August, with a closer look at the serial killer who is currently serving 13 life sentences in prison.
Known as the Angel of Death by British tabloids, Allitt used her job as a paediatric nurse in a Lincolnshire hospital to murder and attempt the murder of 13 children admitted for minor injuries, four of whom died. Sign up to receive television and entertainment email newsletters from our award-winning editorial team. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we hold your personal data, please see our privacy policy.
Beverley Allitt is an English serial killer who was convicted of murdering four children, attempting to murder three other children and causing grievous bodily harm to others in Whilst working at Grantham and Kesthevan Hospital in Lincolnshire, the year-old nurse attacked thirteen children over a period of 59 days in , with medical staff becoming suspicious only after the death of her fourth victim — month-old child Claire Peck.
On April 1, , two-month-old Becky Phillips was admitted for a stomach virus. While being cared for by Allitt she began exhibiting symptoms of hypoglycemia. She was examined and finding nothing wrong Becky was sent home with her mother. During the night she went into convulsions and when her parents contact a physician they were told that she probably had colic.
She died later that night. As a precaution her twin sister, Katie Phillips was admitted to Ward 4. Not long after being cared for by Allitt she stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated. Two days later she stopped breathing again but this time she suffered permanent brain damage due to prolonged lack of oxygen.
When she was transferred to another hospital it was later found that her apneic spells had been the result of her receiving large doses of insulin and potassium. Katie's mother Sue Phillips was so grateful to Allitt for saving her baby's life that she asked Allitt to be her child's godmother. Beverly Allitt graciously accepted.
Four more helpless victims fell prey to Allitt's vicious attacks but it would be the death of month-old Claire Peck that would bring her murderous spree to an end. On April 22, baby Claire was admitted to Ward 4 following a serious ashtma attack that required her to be placed on a ventilator.
After being left alone with Allitt she suffered a cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated. She was stabilized and then again left alone with Allitt. Shortly thereafter she suffered another heart attack and this time the doctors were not successful. When an autopsy was performed it was discovered that she had traces of Lignocaine in her tissues, a drug that is given during cardiac arrest but never to a baby.
When the police were finally notified they examined the records of 25 suspicious cases. In most instances the victims, four of whom were dead, either had high levels of insulin or potassium or both in their systems.
The only common factor linking all the cases together was Beverly Allitt. Beverly Allitt was eventually arrested and charged with 4 counts of murder, 11 counts of attempted murder and 11 counts of causing grievous bodily harm.
On May 23, , Allitt was convicted and given 13 life sentences for murder and attempted murder. She is presently serving her sentence at Rampton Secure Hospital.
This is made more shocking by the fact that whilst she went on a killing spree that claimed four young lives and attempted the murder of nine other victims, she befriended the parents of her victims with her caring and solicitous manner.
Allitt exhibited some worrying tendencies early on, whilst growing up as one of four children, including the wearing of dressings and casts over wounds that she would use to draw attention to herself, without actually allowing these injuries to be examined.
Becoming overweight as an adolescent, she became increasingly attention-seeking, often showing aggression towards others. She spent considerable time in hospitals seeking medical attention for a string of physical ailments, which culminated in the removal of her perfectly healthy appendix.
This was slow to heal, as she insisted on interfering with the surgical scar. She was also known to self-harm, and had to resort to 'doctor-hopping', as medical practitioners became familiar with her attention-seeking behaviours, she would move to the next doctor. She went on to train as a nurse and was suspected of odd behaviour, such as smearing faeces on walls in a nursing home where she trained. Her absentee level was also exceptionally high, the result of a string of illnesses.
Her boyfriend at that time said later that she was aggressive, manipulative and deceptive, claiming false pregnancy as well as rape, before the end of the relationship. When she started, there were only two trained nurses on the dayshift and one for nights, which might explain how her violent attention-seeking behaviour went undetected for as long as it did.
On 21 February , her first victim, seven-month-old Liam Taylor, was admitted to Ward 4 with a chest infection. Allitt went out of her way to reassure his parents that he was in capable hands and persuaded them to go home to get some rest. When they returned, Allitt advised that Liam had endured a respiratory emergency but that he had recovered. She volunteered for extra night duty, so she could watch over the boy, and his parents chose to spend the night at the hospital as well.
Liam had another respiratory crisis just before midnight but it was felt that he had come through it satisfactorily. Allitt was left alone with the boy and his condition worsened dramatically; becoming deathly pale before red blotches appeared on his face, at which point Allitt summoned an emergency resuscitation team.
Liam suffered cardiac arrest and, despite the best efforts of the attending team, he suffered severe brain damage and remained alive only due to the use of life-support machines. On medical advice, his parents made the agonising decision to remove their baby from life support. His cause of death was recorded as heart failure. Only two weeks after the death of Liam Taylor, her next victim was Timothy Hardwick, an year-old with cerebral palsy, who was admitted to Ward 4 following an epileptic fit on 5 March Allitt took over his care and, again following a period when she was alone with the boy, she summoned the emergency resuscitation team, who found him without a pulse and turning blue.
Despite their best efforts, the team, which included a paediatric specialist, were unable to revive him. An autopsy later failed to provide an obvious cause of death, although Liam's epilepsy was officially blamed. Allitt's third victim, one-year-old Kayley Desmond, was admitted to Ward 4 on 3 March with a chest infection, from which she seemed to be recovering well.
Five days later, with Allitt in attendance, baby Kayley went into cardiac arrest in the same bed where Liam Taylor had died a fortnight before. The resuscitation team were able to revive her and she was transferred to another hospital in Nottingham. Attending physicians discovered, during a thorough examination, an odd puncture hole under her armpit. They also discovered an air bubble near the puncture mark, which they attributed to an accidental injection but no investigation was initiated.
Just prior to his discharge, Allitt, who was again attending a patient by herself, summoned help as Paul appeared to be suffering from insulin shock, going into a near-coma on three separate occasions. Each time, the doctors revived him but were unable to explain the fluctuation in his insulin levels.
When he was taken by ambulance to another hospital in Nottingham, Allitt rode with him and he was again found to have too much insulin. Baby Paul was extremely fortunate to have survived the ministrations of the Angel of Death. The next day, five-year-old Bradley Gibson, a pneumonia sufferer, went into unexpected cardiac arrest but was saved by the resuscitation team. Subsequent blood tests showed that his insulin was high, which made no sense to the attending physicians. A visit from Allitt later that night resulted in another heart attack and Bradley was transported to Nottingham, where he recovered.
Despite this alarming increase in the incidence of unexplained health events, all in the presence of Allitt, no suspicions were aroused at this time and she continued unchecked in her spree of violence. On 22 March , two-year-old victim Yik Hung Chan turned blue and appeared in considerable distress when Allitt raised the alarm but he responded well to oxygen.
Another attack resulted in his transferral to the larger hospital in Nottingham, where he recovered. His symptoms were attributed to a fractured skull, the result of a fall. Allitt next turned her attention to twins, Katie and Becky Phillips, just two months old, who were kept in for observation as a result of their premature delivery. A bout of gastro-enteritis brought Becky into Ward 4 on 1 April , when Allitt took over her care. Two days later, Allitt raised the alarm, claiming that Becky appeared hypoglycaemic and cold to the touch but no ailment was found.
Baby Becky was sent home with her mother. During the night, Becky went into convulsions and cried out in apparent pain but the doctor who was summoned suggested she had colic.
Her parents kept her in their bed for observation but she died during the night. Despite an autopsy, pathologists could find no clear cause of death. Unfortunately Allitt was again in attendance. It wasn't long before she was again summoning a resuscitation team to revive baby Katie, who had stopped breathing. Efforts to revive Katie were successful but two days later she suffered a similar attack, which resulted in the collapse of her lungs.
Following another revival effort, Katie was transferred to Nottingham, where it was found that five of her ribs were broken, in addition to having suffered serious brain damage as a result of her oxygen deprivation. In a supreme twist of irony, Katie's mother, Sue Phillips, was so grateful to Allitt for saving her baby's life that she asked her to be Katie's godmother.
Allitt accepted willingly, despite having inflicted partial paralysis, cerebral palsy, and sight and hearing damage on the infant. Although an autopsy indicated that Claire had died from natural causes, Dr Nelson Porter, a consultant at the hospital, initiated an inquiry.
The high number of cardiac arrests over the previous two months on Ward 4 alarmed him.
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