A NURSE jailed for murdering four patients in a case chillingly similar to Lucy Letby’s today lost a bid to have his conviction overturned.
Colin Campbell, previously known as Colin Norris, was found guilty in 2008 of killing the women and attempting to murder a fifth.
Doris Ludlam, 80, Bridget Bourke, 88, Irene Crookes, 79, and Ethel Hall, 86, were inpatients on orthopaedic wards where Campbell worked in Leeds in 2002.
All four developed unexplained hypoglycaemia, which prosecutors argued was down to Campbell injecting them with insulin.
Campbell launched an appeal, with the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) claiming the CPS had relied on “wholly circumstantial” evidence.
The Court of Appeal today refused to overturn his convictions.
Today’s decision could prove to be a blow to Letby, whose case has also been picked up by the CCRC.
The killer nurse is currently serving 15 whole-life orders for murdering seven babies in a year-long reign of terror.
Letby, 34, also tried to kill seven others – including one baby twice – at Countess of Chester Hospital.
But questions have mounted over her convictions after a “blue riband committee鈥 of 14 neonatalogists claimed they found “no murders” after going through the evidence.
Like Letby, Campbell’s case relied on a mountain of evidence from experts for the prosecution.
His trial was told spontaneous hypoglycaemia was extremely rare and it was extraordinary to have a cluster of cases in one place in such a short space of time.
The jury were told that Campbell was present when each patient fell ill or shortly before – making him the only common factor to all five cases.
The argument bears an eerie similarity to Letby’s case where the court heard she was the “common denominator” among the collapses and deaths of her newborn patients.
Campbell denied any wrongdoing and maintained that he had done nothing to induce hypoglycaemia in any of the tragic patients.
He first attempted to appeal against his convictions in 2009 but the bid was refused.
Then in October 2011, the former nurse applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, to review his case.
It took a further ten years for the independent body to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal – by which time Campbell had been in jail for 13 years.
The CCRC claimed the case against Campbell was wholly circumstantial鈥 and 鈥渉eavily reliant on expert opinion evidence鈥.
It also considered new expert evidence that found the hypoglycaemia in the four patients other than Ms Hall may be accounted for by natural causes.
Michael Mansfield KC, representing Campbell, told the court: “The approach of the witnesses we intend to call on behalf of the appellant indicates an evolution of understanding, of knowledge, about hypoglycaemia and about glucose generally.
鈥淪o, we say there is now a range of possibilities relating to natural causes.鈥
Letby’s case was referred to the CCRC by her lawyers in February this year.
The CCRC will now investigate whether the case should be sent to the Court of Appeal, who are the only ones that can overturn a conviction.
Letby became only the fourth woman ever to be handed whole life tariff after Rose West, Joanna Dennehy and Myra Hindley when she was sentenced.
She was originally convicted of seven counts of murder in August last year following a nine-month trial and 22 days of jury deliberation.
Letby was later found guilty of the attempted murder of a baby girl following a retrial.
A public inquiry into how Letby was able to commit her crimes began in September.
The findings of Lady Justice Thirlwall are expected to be published this autumn.