21.01.19
Investigator in Gosport War Memorial scandal says evidence is strong enough to bring charges
The detective who led the investigation into the deaths of hundreds of deaths at Gosport Hospital has said he believes there is strong enough evidence to bring criminal charges.
A public inquiry in June last year into over 800 deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital found that more than 450 patients died after being given “dangerous” levels of drugs, and said the families had been failed by the “institutionalised practice of shortening lives.”
Staff at the hospital were accused of prescribing and overdosing patients with opiates between 1989 and 2000, led by now-retired Dr Jane Barton in the 1990s – but no charges have ever been brought.
Now the former assistant chief constable Steve Watts has told BBC Panorama that he believes there is enough evidence to take the case to court.
Watts, who led the third and largest investigation into the deaths, said: “I think it's strong enough now, I think it was strong enough then, and I think there was an overriding public interest in doing so.”
The Crown Prosecution Service has previously looked at possible manslaughter and murder charges. The panel behind the review in June called for the health secretary, home secretary, and chief constable of Hampshire Police to recognises the severity of what had happened and act accordingly.
The families of those who died have been campaigning for inquiries since the 1990s, but no charges were brought following the investigations as prosecutors decided there was not a reasonable chance of securing convictions.
Hampshire police handed the case over to Kent and Essex police, who are now reviewing the evidence in order to determine whether a fourth police investigation is required.
Watts stated: “I knew what the response of the families was going to be, I knew what the response of the public was going to be, and I recall talking to the prosecutors and saying that this will end up in a public inquiry and eventually I think the matter will go before a court.”
BBC Panorama also dug up witness statements given to earlier police investigations by nurses working in the hospital, with one auxiliary nurse saying: “It got to the stage that every time Dr Barton came to the annexe, I would think to myself who's going to die now?”
Image credit - Chris IsonPA WirePA Images