Beverley Allitt biography

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.

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