Beverley Allitt: The Angel of Death

After failing her nursing exam multiple times, 23-year-old Beverley Allitt was given a temporary position at the children's ward of the understaffed Grantham and Kesteven Hospital in Lincolnshire, England. Aside from being more emotionally detached from the patients than other nurses, Allitt seemed to be a completely normal individual. Unbeknownst to her employers and colleagues, she was a very dangerous woman who suffered from extreme cases of Munchausen Syndrome and Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome (MHBP).

People with Munchausen syndrome attempt to attract attention to themselves by means of feigning or exaggerating symptoms of serious illnesses. People who suffer from this factitious disorder often go so far as to cause physical harm to themselves to validate their claims. They do this in hopes of being admitted into a hospital and/or undergoing medical testing.

As a child, Allitt often wore bandages and casts for no reason other than to attract attention. As she got older, she complained of symptoms such as gall bladder pain, headaches, vomiting, urinary tract infections, blurred vision and back pain. She managed to convince her doctor to remove her perfectly healthy appendix and then prolonged her hospital stay by plucking at her surgical scar, thus preventing it from healing. She used glass and hammers to cause bodily damage to herself. It did not take long for doctors to realize that her wounds were self-inflicted and her complaints were phony. As a result, she frequently had to change from one doctor to another to get the attention that she wanted. Her boyfriend of two years recalled that she was deceptive and manipulative during their relationship. She even faked pregnancies and pretended to have been raped. When her phony illnesses were no longer bringing about the attention that she craved, Allitt found a new method: abusing children.

Indentified in 1977 and classified in the DSM-IV-TR (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association) as a Factitious Disorder, Munchausen by Proxy is a syndrome in which the affected person (typically a parent) causes harm to another person (typically a child) in hopes of attracting sympathy and attention from others. People with this disorder derive a sense of self-worth and importance from damaging others. Some of the most common acts committed by those who suffer from MHBP include breaking the child's bones or poisoning him/her to cause vomiting or abdominal pain. To the outside world (and sometimes even to the child) the affected person/parent seems to be a devoted and concerned caregiver. The mortality rate of the abused children is high.

Allitt was not working at the hospital for very long when she claimed her first victim. On February 21, 1991, seven-week old Liam Taylor was brought to the hospital with congested lungs. Allitt eagerly made herself completely available to the baby's concerned parents. She assured them that their son was well-cared for and urged them to go home and rest. When they returned to the hospital, Allitt informed them that Liam's condition had gotten worse. He had been rushed into emergency care and was in recovery. Allitt volunteered to work an extra shift so she could watch over Liam. His parents chose to stay at the hospital and were asleep in another room when Liam stopped breathing. The baby was resuscitated and left in Allitt's care. Soon after being left alone with Liam, she called out for the crash team, announcing that the boy was in cardiac arrest. The nurses and doctors were baffled because when a patient goes into pulmonary/cardiac arrest, an alarm sounds off and there was no alarm. Doctors worked tirelessly to get Liam breathing again, but their efforts were in vain. The baby was put on life support and had suffered irreversible brain damage as a result of oxygen deprivation. The parents made the heartbreaking decision to take their baby off life support and allow him to die. The hospital staff found it very odd that a young boy with no history of cardiac problems had died of heart failure. Beverley watched quietly as the baby was taken off of life support. She put on her coat and went home without saying a word. She returned to work later that afternoon as if nothing had happened.

Allitt claimed her next victim on March 5, two weeks after the death of Liam Taylor. On that day, 11-year-old Timothy Hardwick was brought to the hospital. He had cerebral palsy and had just suffered an epileptic seizure. Allitt quickly took over the boy's care. Several minutes after being left alone with him, she ran through the halls yelling for help: Timothy was going into cardiac arrest. The pediatric staff rushed to his aid to find that he had turned blue and his heart had stopped beating. After their best efforts to revive him, Timothy was pronounced dead. The subsequent autopsy failed to provide an explanation for the boy's death.

On March 3, one-year-old Kayley Desmond was admitted to the hospital with chest congestion. She was treated and seemed to be recovering well. Five days later, she went into cardiac arrest on the same bed where Liam Taylor had died. She was revived by the crash team and moved to another hospital in Nottingham where she was carefully examined. Doctors found an odd puncture hole under her armpit. The mark was attributed to an accidental injection and no further investigation ensued. Enraged at the missed opportunity for attention, Allitt struck another three times over the next four days.

On March 20, five-month-old Paul Crampton was supposed to be discharged from the hospital after a minor bout with bronchitis. Allitt was alone with the boy when he went into insulin shock. He almost went into a coma three separate times that day. The doctors were perplexed as to why his blood sugar kept dropping. Allitt traveled with him when he was transferred to the hospital in Nottingham via ambulance. Fortunately, the boy lived.

The following day, five-year-old Bradley Gibson was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. Shortly after, the boy suffered a heart attack. Doctors were able to save him after over 30 minutes of strenuous effort. Blood tests were done and they revealed that the boy's insulin levels were abnormally high. While alone with Allitt, Bradley suffered a second myocardial infarction later that night. He was transferred to the hospital in Nottingham, where he fortunately made a full recovery.

Two days later, Allitt struck again. Two-year-old Yik Hung Chan turned blue while under her care. Doctors rushed to the toddler's aid and he responded well to oxygen. Several hours later, he had a repeat attack and was moved to the hospital in Nottingham. Luckily, he lived. His symptoms were attributed to the fact that he had fractured his skull after falling out of a window. No investigation was conducted.

Allitt then set her sights on twin two-month-olds, Becky and Katie Phillips. They had been born prematurely and remained at the hospital for a week before they were sent home. Soon after, they suffered from gastro enteritis, inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. On April 1, 1991, Becky was admitted into the hospital. Two days later, she was hypoglycemic. The doctors and nurses were not able to find any discernable cause for the sudden drop in her blood sugar level. Becky was taken home by her mother. Later that night, the baby began convulsing. Her parents called a doctor who determined that she had colic. Little Becky died in her parents' bed several hours later. An autopsy ensued, but no clear cause of death was found.

As a precaution, the Phillipses took Katie, the surviving twin to the hospital. Unfortunately, Allitt was the nurse on duty at the time. Soon after, Katie went into cardiac arrest and Allitt was running through the halls of the children's ward, shouting for help. The doctors saved Katie, but then the incident repeated two days later. This time, Katie's lungs collapsed. After great efforts and much difficulty, the doctors were able to get her to breathe on her own again. She was moved to the hospital in Nottingham, where it was discovered that she had five broken ribs and had suffered brain damage as a result of oxygen deprivation. Sue Phillips, Katie's mother, was so grateful to Allitt for saving her baby that she asked her to be Katie's godmother. Allitt happily accepted the honor and assumed the role of the heroine. In actuality, her actions caused the baby to have permanent, severe health issues including: cerebral palsy, paralysis, and diminished sight/hearing.

During the course of Allitt's position at the hospital, four more fairly healthy children died under similar circumstances. The one thing that they had in common was the fact that they were all under Allitt's care. Oddly enough, the staff at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital had not yet made the connection. It was actually the staff at the hospital in Nottingham that first noticed that something was not right.

The killing spree was finally brought to an end after the death of 15-month-old Claire Peck. Claire was asthmatic and was taken to a room where she was to be intubated. She was left alone with Allitt for several minutes and during that time, she suffered a heart attack. The crash team was able to revive the baby. When they left her alone with Allitt for a second time, she suffered another heart attack. This time, doctors were not able to save her.

When Claire's necropsy results showed that she had died of natural causes, there was an investigation regarding the numerous cardiac arrest incidents on the children's ward over the previous couple of months. The staff initially suspected that an airborne virus was the cause, but test results disproved the theory.

Further examination of Claire's body showed abnormally high potassium levels and presence of the drug lignocaine. Lignocaine is a substance used to control heart irregularities in adults... not babies. At this point, Superintendent Detective Stuart Clifton suspected foul play.

Clifton examined the notes on the other victims and noticed a pattern of high insulin levels. He then found out that the key to the refrigerator that contained the insulin was reported missing by Allitt. He installed a hidden surveillance camera on the children's ward. He and the other investigators examined the nurses' daily logs and noticed that several pages that corresponded to the time that Paul Crampton was at the hospital were missing. They compared the notes on all of the cardiac arrest victims and quickly noticed the one common factor that they all shared: Allitt.

She was placed under arrest three weeks later. She calmly denied the accusations against her. While searching her home, detectives found the missing pages of the nurses' logs. They began looking into Allitt's history and made some disturbing discoveries. Allitt's medical records revealed classic symptoms of Munchausen Syndrome: extensive and varied medical testing; inconsistent lab results; textbook description of symptoms; and unnecessary surgical procedures.

A psychiatric evaluation was conducted and Allitt was believed to suffer from both Munchausen Syndrome and MHBP. One of the psychiatrists who evaluated Allitt visited her in jail, but was unable to get her to admit to attacking and killing many of her patients.

Allitt was charged with four counts of murder, eleven counts of attempted murder and eleven counts of causing severe physical harm. While awaiting trial, Allitt developed anorexia nervosa and lost weight rapidly.

The trial was delayed several times due to Allitt's various "illnesses." When the trial finally did begin, the prosecutors showed that every one of the victims were under Allitt's care when they went into cardiac/pulmonary arrest. They showed that she had a history of attention-seeking behavior and that she showed no emotion when her patients died. Perhaps the most compelling piece of evidence against Allitt was the fact that the mysterious deaths had completely ceased since she had been taken off the ward.

On May 23, 1993, Allitt was found guilty and given 13 sentences of life in prison. She eventually admitted to three murders and six attacks. While incarcerated, she continued to seek attention by stabbing herself with paper clips and pouring scalding water on herself. She remains in prison as of the time of this writing.