The mum of a serial killer nurse says she hopes her “17-year nightmare” is finally ending after an appeal into her son’s murder conviction drew to a close on Friday.
Glaswegian Colin Campbell – formerly known as Colin Norris – was convicted in 2008 of murdering four women, and attempting to murder another, by injecting them with insulin at a hospital in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
But the Court of Appeal has heard that new expert knowledge may mean the former nurse’s conviction is unsafe.
June Morrison, Colin’s mum, told STV News that she has always believed in her son’s innocence.
“We have never believed that he is guilty of any of this,” she said.
“We have always believed these women were not murdered. There were other things going on with their health. They had a lot of underlying conditions.
“Whatever decision is made about Colin, it affects the whole of our family. It affects the rest of our lives. If it does not go the way we want it to, we are going to have to start thinking about another campaign because we cannot just stop there.
STV News“We need to keep fighting. I think we can appeal against this appeal, but again, you have got to go through the process of having new evidence or new arguments.
“I have not been able to sleep because of the stress. I am not eating properly. He is on my mind constantly. When I do sleep, I wake up thinking about Colin.”
Norris was convicted of killing Doris Ludlam, 80, Bridget Bourke, 88, Irene Crookes, 79, and 86-year-old Ethel Hall at Leeds General Infirmary and the city’s St James’ Hospital in 2002.
He was also found guilty of attempting to murder 90-year-old Vera Wilby.
All the women were elderly inpatients in 2002 on orthopaedic wards where Campbell worked and each developed severe, unexplained hypoglycemia.
STV NewsCampbell was alleged to have been present when or shortly before each of the patients suffered hypoglycemia and, because of the rarity of such a cluster of cases happening within a short space of time, prosecutors said the nurse must have been responsible.
A total of 20 experts gave evidence during a five-month trial at Newcastle Crown Court after which Campbell was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years.
The judges – Lady Justice Macur, Sir Stephen Irwin and Mr Justice Picken – will now retire to consider their verdict on whether the evidence that led to Colin’s conviction was unsafe.
June said: “It still doesn’t feel as if it’s real. It is a scary time. We are hopeful as well, but it has been quite frightening at times. You are left feeling is this finally it?
“Is this nightmare that we have been going through for over 17 years finally ending? It has been going on for longer than that, but Colin has been in prison for 17 years.
Norris has been serving life imprisonment at HMP Frankland in County Durham since an investigation concluded that the women in his care developed unexplained severe hypoglycaemia while in hospital.
“A lot of these families, they believed that their loved ones died naturally and then they were told there was a nurse that had murdered them,” said June.
“Me as a mother, I know my son is not capable of anything at that. It breaks my heart to think of these families and what they are going through.
“There are no winners. Because at the end of the day, if and when my son gets released, they are going to have to go through the process again of if my mother wasn’t murdered, what are they to believe? I can’t think for other families but for myself, no one wins.”
“I do think nurses need better protection in court. Some kind of expert that can represent them at a court because they don’t have anything at the moment.
“They do have professional bodies but practicing nurses on wards need something more to help, to ensure that no other nurse or family has to go through this again.”
While the court was off, June went down to Durham to see Colin in prison.
“I think he is just taking things day by day and hoping,” she said. “What is it they say? Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. This is what we’re hoping for.
STV News“I know the trial and a hearing are totally different, but being down in London, sitting on the court benches, it brings it all back. Colin is not there. He is on a TV screen so it is just a small picture that I can see.
“During the trial, I couldn’t see Colin either because there was a screen between us. If I looked up, I could just see him. When you hear from the prosecution experts and they start saying ‘my opinion is’, it does take you right back.
“I have allowed myself to have thoughts of ‘when he gets out, what we could do?’ That is all a challenge. I have also had thoughts of ‘what if he doesn’t get out?’ How do we start campaigning again? Who do we get on board? What happens with the legal team?
“All that goes through your mind, but at the moment I just get through the day. Coming into this, as a family, we had never been in trouble with the police.
“We never had any dealings with courts or anything like that, so it was hard to accept this was what was going to be happening for the next few years.“
Appeal of convicted nurse is a ‘straightforward case’
On the final day of Campbell’s appeal in London on Friday, judges heard closing submissions from barristers representing the Crown Prosecution Service, who are opposing the appeal.
In written submissions, James Curtis KC said the jury in Campbell’s trial had the “exceptional assistance of a meticulous, systematic and detailed summing up” from the judge.
He added: “They were provided with the necessary relevant facts and issues, from a plethora of highly qualified and clinically experienced witnesses.
“The judge carefully summarised and explained these, and accurately directed the jury as to how to approach them.”
Michael Mansfield KC told the court on Thursday that Campbell’s appeal is a “straightforward case”, and that judges “must conclude that these convictions are unsafe”.
Campbell has denied any wrongdoing and says he did nothing to cause hypoglycemia in any of the patients.
He unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction in 2009 and applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2011.
His appeal was heard after a review from the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said new evidence created a “real possibility” his conviction was unsafe.
The CCRC referred his conviction to the Court of Appeal on the basis of new medical evidence in February 2021.
It was agreed the new evidence could prove that natural causes may account for the hypoglycaemia in the four patients other than Mrs Hall.
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