Police ‘dig up garden’ of nurse arrested over hospital deaths of babies

Police have reportedly begun to dig up part of a healthcare worker’s garden, just days after she was arrested on suspicion of murdering eight babies and attempting to kill another six in a UK hospital.

According to The Independent newspaper, police officers carrying spades and rakes were seen entering the home, before using a step ladder to climb over her fence – which leads into nearby woodland.

It’s the latest development in a now two-day search of the property, just a few minutes away from the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, UK, where she had been working for the last eight years as a children’s nurse.

According to multiple news outlets, police have put up a blue forensic science tent in the front garden, while they’re believed to be searching the back garden hidden behind her property and several gutters around the house.

Her arrest came as part of an ongoing investigation into the deaths of 17 babies and 15 non-fatal collapses at the hospital between March 2015 and July 2016.

A non-fatal collapse is when a baby’s condition suddenly declines, but the infant manages to survive. While police were initially investigating 15 deaths, they confirmed on Tuesday they had widened it to 17 in total.

A second hospital, Liverpool Women’s Hospital, has since confirmed it’s been cooperating with police in the investigation. A spokesperson for Liverpool Women’s NHS Trust told the Guardian the nurse had completed some training at the hospital previously.

“There is currently no suggestion that any patients at Liverpool Women’s came to any harm in relation to this investigation,” they added.

Read more: Healthcare worker arrested on suspicion of murdering eight babies in hospital

It’s thought to be the first major UK police investigation into child deaths in hospitals in 30 years, after nurse Beverley Allitt, nicknamed the Angel of Death, was jailed for 30 years for murdering four children with lethal injections. She was also convicted of the attempted murder of three more, all in the early 1990s.

“Whilst this is a significant step forward in our enquiries it is important to remember that the investigation is very much active and ongoing at this stage,” Detective Inspector Paul Hughes, who is in charge of the investigation, previously said in a statement. “There are no set timescales for this coming to a conclusion but we remain committed to carrying out a thorough investigation as soon as possible.”

The police also gave a moving message to the families of the babies who had tragically died.

“We recognise that this investigation has a huge impact on all of the families, staff, and patients at the hospital as well as members of the public,” he added.

“Parents of all the babies are continuing to be kept fully updated and are being supported throughout the process by specially trained officers. This is an extremely difficult time for all the families and it is important to remember that, at the heart of this, there are a number of bereaved families seeking answers as to what happened to their children.”

Ian Harvey, the Countess of Chester Hospital’s medical director, confirmed that the hospital and all staff members are helping the police with their investigation. He also insisted the hospital’s baby unit is safe to continue “in its current form”.

In a statement on the hospital’s main website, he said: “Asking the police to look into this was not something we did lightly, but we need to do everything we can to understand what has happened here and get the answers we and the families so desperately want.

“The Countess is now equivalent to a Level 1 Special Care Baby Unit and we are confident the unit is safe to continue in its current form.”

The investigation, dubbed Operation Hummingbird, was first launched in May 2017. 

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