Three victims of the 'angel of death': Patients killed by hospital poisoner pictured for first time

Two more suspected victims of the hospital insulin poisoner were named yesterday as the deadly speed with which the drug could have been used as a murder weapon became clear.
Great-grandfather George Keep, 84, and 71-year-old Arnold Lancaster are feared to have died as a result of the sabotaged saline solution that is also suspected to have killed Tracey Arden, 44.
Yesterday their families were coming to terms with the fact that their loved ones’ sudden and unexpected deterioration after being admitted to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport could have been down to a twisted poisoner intent on mass murder.

Contamination victims: Arnold Lancaster, 71, left, from Stockport, left, and George Keep, 84, right, both had their medication tampered with

Last night detectives were continuing to interview around 60 medical staff who could have had access to the store room between wards A1 and A3 where 36 vials of saline solution are believed to have been deliberately contaminated with insulin.
The hospital contacted police last Tuesday after a nurse reported a higher-than-normal number of patients with ‘unexplained’ low blood-sugar levels.
Fourteen patients are thought to have received overdoses, and the 11 survivors are to be interviewed by detectives once they have recovered in the hope that they can provide clues.

Victim: Tracey Arden died following the deliberate contamination of saline solution at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport

Other deaths that could be linked to insulin poisoning at the hospital are to be referred to the local coroner, and detectives are prepared to widen their inquiry to dozens of potential murders going back weeks or even months.
Mr Keep, a widower from Cheadle, near Stockport, who was suffering from lung cancer, was admitted to the hospital on June 27 after breaking his hip in a fall.
He successfully underwent surgery, but in the following days his blood pressure and blood-sugar levels dropped, and doctors diagnosed fluid on his lungs.
It is thought the insulin with which the saline had been contaminated may have been undermining his health, undetected by medical staff. At the start of last week his family were told he was too weak to continue receiving treatment, and he died last Thursday.
Shortly afterwards police broke the news that he could have been poisoned.
His daughter Carolyn Knowles, 59, said yesterday: ‘I keep putting it to the back of my mind, that there hasn’t been foul play with my father. I just keep hoping that is the case.’
Mr Lancaster, who never married and lived in sheltered housing in Romiley, Cheshire, died last Monday. His family, thought to be restricted to an elderly sister, was too upset to comment yesterday.
The deadly effectiveness of an insulin overdose – if it is proved to have been used as a murder weapon – is demonstrated by the speed with which Miss Arden, the first known victim, deteriorated.
The mother of two had suffered from a severe form of multiple sclerosis for 12 years, and her family were used to regular hospital visits.

Devastated: Gary Arden, the brother of Tracey, said police visited his parent's home after her death and said the funeral would have to be cancelled

Her ageing parents, Keith and June, went to Stepping Hill to visit her after she was admitted on Thursday, July 7 with a suspected chest infection, leaving her at 4pm feeling reassured that ‘colour was coming back into her cheeks’.
Yet barely an hour and a half later, they received a call saying she had taken a severe turn for the worse. They live just half an hour way, but by the time they returned to the hospital, she was dead.
Her family were initially told she had died of a chest infection associated with her MS, but after the alarm was raised on the ward where she had been treated, they found themselves at the centre of a potential murder investigation.
Inquests into the deaths are expected to be opened this week by John Pollard, the coroner who has admitted he was duped by Harold Shipman, Britain’s worst medical serial killer, who murdered more than 200 people.