A hospital nurse killed three patients and left another with brain damage by poisoning saline drips and ampoules and leaving innocent colleagues to administer them to patients on his wards, a jury was told yesterday.

Victorino Domingo Chua, 49, put doses of insulin in products in store rooms at Steppings Hill Hospital near Stockport, jurors heard.

Peter Wright, QC, opening the prosecution’s case at Manchester crown court, said that in the summer of 2011, 21 patients suffered unexpected hypoglycaemic attacks, in which blood sugar levels fell to dangerously low levels.

(The Times)