Police Drop All Charges Against Stockport Nurse Rebecca Leighton

Stepping Hill Hospital Murders: Police Drop All Charges Against Stockport Nurse Rebecca Leighton

Greater Manchester Police have revealed that all charges against Stockport Nurse Rebecca Leighon accused of contaminating patient’s saline drips at Stepping Hill Hospital have been dropped.

The 27-year-old nurse was arrested by police who were investigating the deaths of seven patients at the hospital where she worked but due to insufficient evidence against her prosecutors admitted they had no case.

She was released from Styal Prison in Cheshire after being told by the Governor that all charges against her had been dropped and police were doing everything that they could to guarantee her safety and to try and help her get back into the community.

A statement was read out by her solicitor Carl Richmond on behalf of Rebecca Leighton to thank everyone who never doubted her innocence:

“”I’ve been in a living hell and was locked up in prison for something I had not done. It was so frustrating for me to know that the person who actually carried out these terrible acts is still out there. My life has been turned upside-down. All I ever wanted to do was persue a profession in nursing and care for my patients”.

Rebecca Leighton was arrested in connection to several suspicious death at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, Greater Manchester in July linked by evidence of her fingerprints found on a saline bag which had been damaged by a needle.

Unfortunately for the young nurse, this gave the police ‘reasonable suspicion’ to believe that she had committed the crimes based on all the evidence made available to them.

Police have confirmed that inquiries into the deaths at Stepping Hill Hospital are still ongoing and insist they will ‘leave no stone unturned’, “We are clear that there was contamination in a number of saline products. It will take a number of weeks to complete the investigation process, the forensic process and most importantly the medical analysis which needs to take place”, said Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney, who also added that there had been no further incidents of saline contamination at the Stockport Hospital since 16 July 2011.