Nurse inquiry ‘must be held in public’

9:20am Wednesday 24th December 2008

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The former husband of a nurse who died before she could face trial accused of murdering three pensioners has called for the inquiry to be held in public.

Paul Booth said the probe into the work of senior nurse Anne Grigg Booth at Airedale Hospital was of national importance and should not be held in secret.

His call comes as the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) revealed it would hold an independent inquiry to be chaired by a leading barrister.

A spokesman said: “The families of the deceased and patients involved have been consulted and will be invited to be involved further. The findings of the inquiry will be made public.”

Airedale NHS Trust would be co-operating fully throughout the process, he added.

The inquiry is also expected to look into procedures at the Steeton-based hospital and make recommendations.

As well as the murder of three pensioners — aged 67, 75 and 96 — at the hospital, Grigg Booth was also charged with giving drug overdoses to more than 12 others between 2000 and 2002 and the attempted murder of a 42-year-old.

Mr Booth, who lives in Lancashire, was married to Grigg Booth for 20 years until shortly before she was arrested in 2003.

He said: “Surely the Leeds-based SHA should be made to defend its scandalous decision to deny reporters access to this important inquiry.”

He said his ex-wife was a broken woman at the time of the alleged murders, deeply in debt and an alcoholic.

Her death had robbed her of the chance to tell of her workload and of how she was still deeply troubled by the IRA Omagh bombing in 1998, where she was among the first medical staff to deal with the victims.

The SHA announcement follows a call for an independent inquiry by Keighley MP Ann Cryer after it was revealed that because the bodies were no longer available, there could be no inquests. Grigg-Booth was to face trial at Bradford Crown Court on charges of murdering three patients at the hospital and giving drug overdoses to more than a dozen others.

She died after overdosing on anti-depressants at her home, in Nelson, in 2005. The criminal proceedings against her were then discontinued.

Mrs Cryer said she accepted that the inquiry would be held in private.

“This is a really sensitive issue and we have to consider the position of the children of the elderly people who died. It has to be handled with care and sensitivity,” she said.

“But it is very important that the inquiry looks closely at the procedures which led up to this tragedy and that the heath trust demonstrates how it will make sure it doesn’t happen again.” And when it was concluded, the findings should be made public, she added.