What happened to Beverley Allitt? New Sky documentary looks at her crimes - where she is now
Everything you need to know about the nurse convicted of killing multiple children in hospital.
The Beverley Allitt Tapes – a documentary about the nurse convicted of murdering several children in 1993 – 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.
Sky's three-part true crime series documents Allitt's case, shows never-before-seen police interviews with the killer nurse and looks at "the warning signs that were missed".
Here's everything you need to know about the convicted serial killer and where she is now.
Who is Beverley Allitt?
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 1993.
Whilst working at Grantham and Kesthevan Hospital in Lincolnshire, the 22-year-old nurse attacked thirteen children over a period of 59 days in 1991, with medical staff becoming suspicious only after the death of her fourth victim – 15-month-old child Claire Peck.
The hospital called in the police after noting the uncommonly high number of cardiac arrests happening in the children's ward, and quickly found that Allitt was the only nurse working at the time of all the attacks.
Her victims had been brought into hospital for minor illnesses, such as chest infections or gastroenteritis, but would collapse, go into cardiac arrest, and in the case of four victims, pass away for no obvious reason.
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Detective superintendent Stuart Clifton sent five-month-old Paul Crampton's blood to a lab for examination after he collapsed three times in seven days and found a dangerous amount of insulin – the second highest amount ever recorded at the time – in his blood stream.
After arresting Allitt, police raided the nurse's home to find a syringe, a hospital pillowcase and an allocations book, which showed which nurse was assigned to each child and when, containing pages which had been ripped out of a colleague's similar copy.
Police were able to establish that Allitt had administered dangerous doses of insulin to at least two victims, while a large air bubble was found in the body of another, but the police couldn't establish how all 13 attacks were carried out.
In court, Allitt's lawyer suggested that the nurse suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy – a condition by which a caregiver intentionally causes health problems in another person, typically to gain attention.
The jury found her guilty of the incidents involved 13 children in hospital and she was sentenced to 13 life sentences in 1993.
Where is Beverley Allitt now?
Allitt is currently serving three life sentences in Nottinghamshire-based psychiatric ward Rampton Secure Hospital.
According to Clifton, the detective inspector visited Allitt in prison in 1993 and during his visit, admitted details bout harming nine of the children she was convicted of attacking, but did not give specific details as to the drugs she used.
In July 2018, Nottinghamshire Live reported that the convicted serial killer had contracted sepsis and was being closely monitored.
The Beverley Allitt Tapes airs on Sky Crime and NOW TV in August. Find out what to watch with our TV Guide.
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