Why did she do it?
Sometimes they like the excitement that comes with a near death with doctors and nurses rushing around trying to save the patient. Sometimes they like deciding who lives and who dies. In one case two nurses made a sick game of it with one picking and the other doing the kill.
Humans can be sick freaks.
Arrest & Trial
By July 26, 1991, police felt that they had sufficient evidence to charge Allitt with murder, but it wasn’t until November 1991 that she was formally charged.
Allitt showed calm and restraint under interrogation, denying any part in the attacks, insisting she had merely been caring for the victims. A search of her home revealed parts of the missing nursing log.
Further extensive background checks by the police indicated a pattern of behavior that pointed to a very serious personality disorder, and Allitt exhibited symptoms of both Munchausen’s syndrome and Munchausen’s syndrome by Proxy, which are both characterized by getting attention through illness.
With Munchausen’s syndrome, physical or psychological symptoms are either self-induced or feigned in oneself to gain attention, while Munchausen’s by Proxy involves inflicting injury on others to gain attention for oneself. It is fairly unusual for an individual to present with both conditions.
Allitt’s behavior in adolescence appeared to be typical of Munchausen’s syndrome and, when this behavior failed to elicit the desired reactions in others, she began to harm her young patients in order to satisfy her desire to be noticed.
Despite visits and assessments by a number of health-care professionals while in prison, Allitt refused to confess what she had done. After a series of hearings, Allitt was charged with four counts of murder, 11 counts of attempted murder, and 11 counts of causing grievous bodily harm. As she awaited her trial, she rapidly lost weight and developed anorexia nervosa, a further indication of her psychological problems.
After numerous delays due to her “illnesses”, (as a result of which she had lost 70 pounds) she went to trial at Nottingham Crown Court on February 15, 1993, where prosecutors demonstrated to the jury how she had been present at each suspicious episode, and the lack of episodes when she was taken off the ward.
Evidence about high readings of insulin and potassium in each of the victims, as well as drug injection and puncture marks, were also linked to Allitt. She was further accused of cutting off her victim’s oxygen, either by smothering, or by tampering with machines.
Her unusual behavior in childhood was brought to light and the pediatrics expert, Professor Roy Meadow, explained Munchausen’s syndrome and Munchausen’s by Proxy syndrome to the jury, pointing out how Allitt demonstrated symptoms of both, as well as introducing evidence of her typical post-arrest behavior, and high incidence of illness, which had delayed the start of her trial.
It was Professor Meadows’ opinion that Beverley Allitt would never be cured, making her a clear danger to anyone with whom she might come in contact.
After a trial that lasted nearly two months (and at which Allitt attended only 16 days due to continued illness), Allitt was convicted on May 23, 1993, and given 13 life sentences for murder and attempted murder.
It was the harshest sentence ever delivered to a female but, according to Mr. Justice Latham, it was commensurate with the horrific suffering of the victims, their families, and the ignominy she had brought upon nursing as a profession.
Aftermath
The impact Allitt’s case had on the Grantham & Kesteven Hospital was so severe that the Maternity Unit was closed down altogether.
Rather than going to prison, Allitt was incarcerated at Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottingham, a high-security facility housing mainly individuals detained under the Mental Health Act. As an inmate at Rampton, she began her attention seeking behavior again, ingesting ground glass and pouring boiling water on her hand.
She has subsequently admitted to three of the murders of which she was charged, as well as six of the assaults. The appalling nature of her crimes has placed her on the Home Office list of criminals who will never be eligible for parole.
There have been accusations, most notably by Chris Taylor, father of Allitt’s first victim, Liam, that Rampton is more like a Butlin’s holiday camp than a prison. The facility, which has some 1,400 staff to deal with around 400 inmates, costs taxpayers around $3,000 per week, per inmate, to administer.
In 2001 there were reports that she was to marry fellow inmate, Mark Heggie, although she is currently still single.
Most recently, she was the subject of a Mirror Newspaper inquiry in May 2005, when it was revealed that she received over $40,000 in State benefits since her incarceration in 1993.
In August 2006, Allitt applied for a review of her sentence which led the Probation Service to contact victims’ families about the process. Allitt remains in Rampton.
https://www.biography.com/people/beverley-allitt-17162398