When five-month-old Paul Crampton mysteriously collapsed in hospital, one nurse stood silently in the shadows as doctors battled to save him.
asserted
doctors → collapse → him
His worried parents David and Kath paid little more than a glance to Beverley Allitt, a lurker observing tiny Paul desperately struggling for life in Ward Four.
asserted
parents → pay → Ward
They'd arrived to see their precious boy in the arms of another staff member at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital in Lincolnshire.
asserted
boy → arrive → Lincolnshire
He looked cold, clammy, lethargic and was obviously in some distress.
asserted
He → look → distress
Allitt, then 22, stepped forward to chillingly remark: 'This child is hypo', meaning he had hypoglycaemia because his blood sugar levels had dropped dangerously low.
asserted
levels → step → hypoglycaemia
Unbeknown to all those present, Allitt – dubbed the 'Angel of Death' – was a serial killer attacking babies in her care nearly a quarter of a century before Lucy Letby.
asserted
Allitt → dub → Letby
As Lady Justice Thirlwall's inquiry concluded last week infants murdered by neonatal nurse Letby might have been saved at the Countess of Chester Hospital but warnings about the Allitt case were ignored.
uncertain
warnings → conclude → case
As the Cramptons sat at home watching TV news, it brought back painful memories.
asserted
it → sit → memories
Father-of-three Mr Crampton – who believes lessons still haven't been learned – told The Crime Desk it was his wife who first suspected something was amiss with the treatment Paul received.
asserted
Paul → believe → treatment
Beverley Allitt (pictured) – dubbed the 'Angel of Death' – was a serial killer attacking babies in her care
Paul Crampton suffered the first of three unexplainable collapses after being poisoned with huge doses of insulin after being admitted to hospital in March 1991
Letby, 36, murdered seven infants and attempted to murder seven more, one of whom she attacked twice, between June 2015 and June 2016
Her fears were confirmed when police told them their son was one of 13 children attacked by Allitt over 59 days.
asserted
son → picture → days
Four victims were murdered in a spree that has striking parallels to the Letby case.
asserted
that → murder → case
In March 1991, Paul was admitted with a chest infection as a precaution.
asserted
Paul → admit → precaution
The baby had been expected to make a quick recovery and return home.
asserted
baby → expect → recovery
But within hours, Paul suffered the first of three unexplainable collapses after being poisoned with huge doses of insulin.
asserted
Paul → suffer → insulin
'I remember [Allitt] from the hospital,' says retired construction director Mr Crampton, 71, from Grantham.
asserted
Crampton → remember → Grantham
Did she stand out?
asserted
she → stand → ?
Did I particularly warm to her?
asserted
I → warm → her
To me, there wasn't a clue that she was doing things to children in the hospital.
asserted
she → be → hospital
'But Kath felt strongly that something was being done to him.
asserted
something → feel → him
She spoke to the person responsible.
asserted
She → speak → person
However, it seemed beyond their experience and they didn't know how to manage or deal with the developing crisis.'
asserted
they → seem → crisis
A pathology report showed Paul had 43,147 milliunits of insulin in his blood, one of the highest levels ever found in a human.
asserted
Paul → show → human
Detectives believe Allitt had injected a whole adult syringe of the hormone into his body.
asserted
Allitt → believe → body
Pages from the ward allocation log at the time of Paul's admission had been ripped out.
asserted
Pages → rip → admission
They were discovered in a drawer during a search of Allitt's family home in the village of Corby Glen nine miles away from Grantham.
asserted
They → discover → Grantham
She was given 13 life sentences in 1993 for killing seven-month-old Liam Taylor, 11-year-old Timothy Hardwick, two-month-old Becky Phillips and 15-month-old Claire Peck and harming nine others, including Paul.
asserted
She → give → Paul
She claimed to be suffering from Munchausen's syndrome by Proxy.
asserted
She → claim → Proxy
A pathology report showed Paul had 43,147 milliunits of insulin in his blood, one of the highest levels ever found in a human
Allitt was given 13 life sentences in 1993 for killing seven-month-old Liam Taylor, 11-year-old Timothy Hardwick, two-month-old Becky Phillips and 15-month-old Claire Peck and harming nine others, including Paul
'In court, she was a sad individual about to face the full force of the law for her crimes,' Mr Crampton adds.
asserted
Crampton → show → crimes
A 1994 independent inquiry, chaired by Sir Cecil Clothier, into Allitt's crimes found a string of failings.
asserted
inquiry → chair → failings
Paul was transferred to another hospital, Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre, where he made a full recovery.
asserted
he → transfer → recovery
The now 35-year-old has enjoyed a successful career after obtaining a master's degree and had a daughter of his own.
asserted
old → enjoy → own
Yet two decades after he was attacked by Allitt, Letby, 36, murdered seven infants and attempted to murder seven more, one of whom she attacked twice, between June 2015 and June 2016.
asserted
she → attack → June
She used insulin to try to kill at least two babies.
asserted
She → use → babies
Lady Justice Thirlwall's report condemned Countess of Chester senior executives for mounting an 'exercise in spin' that 'prized' protecting the reputation of the hospital over investigating why infants died at the hands of Britain's most prolific child serial killer.
asserted
infants → condemn → killer
A police probe had been stalled and whistleblowing doctors targeted, the inquiry found.
asserted
inquiry → stall → ?
Letby, who maintains her innocence, is serving 15 whole-life terms and has twice been denied permission to appeal against her convictions.
asserted
who → maintain → convictions
Justice Thirlwall referenced Allitt and nurse Victorino Chua, who murdered and poisoned patients at Stockport's Stepping Hill Hospital, saying: 'Nurses do kill.
asserted
Nurses → reference → Hospital
All doctors, nurses and managers should know that.'
Paul was transferred to another hospital, Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre, where he made a full recovery
She added: 'Despite professed awareness within the safeguarding team of the case of Beverly Allitt and the Allitt Inquiry's recommendation to be alert to the possibility of malevolent intervention by health professionals as a cause of unexplained clinical events, the training delivered did not include information about the possibility of a staff member harming children.'
asserted
member → know → children
Reflecting on the Allitt and Letby cases, Mr Crampton said they demonstrated the 'inability' of two hospitals to identify suspicious circumstances and order immediate action.
asserted
they → reflect → action
'Someone should have spotted that sequence of events and said, 'Hey, what's going on here',' he adds.
'
asserted
he → spot → events
…and 43 more, not listed.
The Aporia
