UK Nurse Sentenced to Life in Prison

LONDON — A nurse convicted of killing four elderly patients in northern England with insulin overdoses was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday.

Colin Norris, 32, must serve at least 30 years before being eligible for parole, the judge said.

"You are, I have absolutely no doubt, a thoroughly evil and dangerous man," Justice John Griffith Williams said at Newcastle Crown Court.

Norris also was convicted of attempting to kill a fifth patient.

Police began investigating Norris following the death of Ethel Hall, 86, at Leeds General Infirmary in November 2002. She was found to have 12 times the normal level of insulin in her blood.

Police expanded their investigation after checking records at the infirmary and at St. James' Hospital in Leeds, where Norris also had worked.

Norris was arrested in December 2002 but not charged until 2005.

He was convicted of killing Doris Ludlam, 80; Bridget Bourke, 88; and Irene Crookes, 79, and of attempting to kill Vera Wilby, 90.

Griffith Williams said he believed Norris was "essentially lazy" and resented the amount of care required by the elderly.

"You are an arrogant and manipulative man with a real dislike of elderly patients," the judge said at sentencing.

"The most telling evidence was that observation of one of your female patients, Bridget Tarpey, who said: 'He didn't like us old women.'"

All five victims had undergone surgery for hip fractures, were in poor health and could be regarded as a "burden to nursing staff," prosecutor Robert Smith said.

While training, Norris had said he did not like looking after "geriatric patients," Smith said.