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{{short description|Scottish serial killer}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox serial killer
| name            = Colin Norris
| image           = Colin Norris, Scottish nurse convicted of four murders and an attempted murder in 2008.png
| caption         = [[Mug shot]] of Norris, taken by [[West&nbsp;Yorkshire&nbsp;Police]]
| birth_name      = Colin Campbell Norris
| birth_date      = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1976|02|12}}
| birth_place     = [[Milton, Glasgow]], Scotland
| locations       = [[Leeds General Infirmary]] and [[St James's University Hospital]], [[Leeds]]
| country         = [[England]]
| victims         = 4–10 murder victims, 1 victim of attempted murder
| beginyear       = May
| endyear         = November 2002
| apprehended     = 2002
| criminal_charge = [[Murder in English law|Murder]] (4 counts), [[attempted murder]] (1 count)
| penalty         = [[Life imprisonment]] with a [[Life imprisonment in England and Wales#Minimum term|minimum tariff]] of 30 years imprisonment
| weapon          = Overdoses of [[insulin]]
| imprisoned      = [[HM Prison Frankland]]
}}

'''Colin Campbell Norris''' (born 12 February 1976)<ref name="ITV 2008" /> is a British [[serial killer]] who was convicted of the [[Murder in English law|murder]] of four elderly patients and the [[attempted murder]]s of two others in two hospitals in [[Leeds]], England, in 2002.

A police investigation showed Norris to be on duty when five patients fell into sudden [[hypoglycemia|hypoglycaemic comas]]. Suspicions were raised when Norris predicted that healthy Ethel Hall would die at 5:15&nbsp;am one night, which is when she fell into a catastrophic arrest, and tests revealed that she had been injected with an extremely high level of man-made [[insulin]]. Insulin was missing from the hospital fridge and Norris had last accessed it, only half an hour before Hall fell unconscious.

Subsequent investigations would find that the unnatural hypoglycaemic attacks followed him when he was transferred to a second hospital, and hospital records revealed that only he could not be eliminated as a suspect. Detectives believed that Norris was responsible for up to six other suspicious deaths where only he was always present, but a lack of [[post mortem]] evidence and other factors meant that investigators and the [[Crown Prosecution Service]] could not pursue convictions for these deaths.

Doubts were later raised about his conviction by, among others, Professor [[Vincent Marks]], an expert on [[insulin]] poisoning, who concluded from his own studies that there was a 1 in 10 chance that each patient's arrest could have happened naturally. However, others have pointed out that [[C-peptide]]s are produced in hypoglycaemic attacks caused by insulin produced naturally in the body, and these were not detected in any of the blood tests of the victims, indicating that the insulin had been introduced to their bodies externally and artificially. Norris lost an appeal against his conviction in 2009. In February 2021 the [[Criminal Cases Review Commission]] referred the case back to the [[Court of Appeal (England and Wales)|Court of Appeal]]; this second appeal, heard in 2025, was also lost.

Norris is believed to have been inspired by [[Jessie McTavish]], a fellow Scottish Nurse who was convicted of murdering a patient with insulin in 1974 before having her conviction quashed in 1975. The incident had happened at [[Ruchill Hospital]] in Glasgow, less than a mile from where Norris grew up. Shortly before he registered as a nurse he had learned about McTavish.<ref name="The Scotsman 2008">{{cite news |title=The hatred that turned Colin Norris into serial killer |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/hatred-turned-colin-norris-serial-killer-2478080 |access-date=1 December 2020 |work=[[The Scotsman]] |date=3 March 2008}}</ref>

==Background==
[[File:Milton from the air (geograph 2987995).jpg|thumb|right|400px|The [[Milton, Glasgow|Milton]] area of Glasgow, where Norris grew up and where he lived up until the trial. Ruchill Hospital, where the infamous [[Jessie McTavish]] incident took place which Norris learned about at university, can be seen in the distance at the top left-hand corner of the image (the building with the tall brick tower).]]
Norris was born and brought up in the [[Milton, Glasgow|Milton]] area of [[Glasgow]], Scotland.<ref name="Stokes 2008a" /> He originally worked as a [[travel agent]] after leaving college, but after a few years in this role decided to retrain as a nurse.<ref name="ITV 2008">{{cite AV media |people=[[Real Crime]] |title=Real Crime: Angel of Death |date=4 December 2008 |medium=Television production |publisher=ITV |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqHdXPiXoWc&t=632s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/cqHdXPiXoWc |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Friends described him as someone who loved being centre stage, and said he enjoyed amateur dramatics.<ref name="Burns 2008a">{{cite news |last1=Burns |first1=Janice |title=Trapped by Arrogance; 'Decent Young Man' Was Serial Killer Who Showed No Remorse for His Murder Spree: Evil Norris thought he would never be caught |newspaper=Daily Record |page=6 |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> His academic record was average, but he became known for being quick to anger and his aggressive confrontations with tutors and, later, employers.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> His behaviour towards university lecturers at the [[University of Dundee]] was described as "unacceptable".<ref>{{cite news |title=Failings allowed Leeds nurse Colin Norris to kill |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/8481320.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=26 January 2010 |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> He constantly argued with his tutor, later saying that she "and I didn't exactly see eye to eye. I had a personality clash, basically 'cos I had one and she never, and she was my personal tutor."<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Shortly before he qualified, this tutor was known to have taught Norris about [[Jessie McTavish]], a nurse convicted of murdering a patient with insulin at [[Ruchill Hospital]] in Glasgow, less than a mile from where Norris grew up. McTavish's conviction was overturned on appeal.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2007b" /> Norris was then tasked with "reviewing" her conduct by the tutor.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2007b" /> Learning about McTavish would later be regarded as a [[Colin Norris#Motive|likely inspiration]] for Norris, and he would have believed at this point that insulin would be the "perfect" weapon for murder as it leaves the blood very quickly.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2007b" />

Norris began working at [[Leeds General Infirmary]] after qualifying in June 2001, but quickly fell out with experienced authority figures, finding it difficult to be told 'no' or what to do.<ref name="ITV 2008" /><ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008">{{cite news |title=Colin Norris, Angel of Death nurse: Timeline |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1580552/Colin-Norris-Angel-of-Death-nurse-Timeline.html |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |url-access=subscription |access-date=22 April 2021 |date=2 March 2008}}</ref> Colleagues recounted him saying that he didn't like working on minor injury wards or with old people and wanted to work in the emergency department because it was more 'exciting' for him.<ref name="Stokes 2007b">{{cite news |last1=Stokes |first1=Paul |title=Nurse accused of murdering four patients. He 'turned killer on the night shift' |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=17 October 2007}}</ref> He said he "wasn't put on this earth to sit in an office."<ref name="ITV 2008" /> The hospital later found out that he had been secretly working as a nurse in other hospitals on occasions when he claimed to be off sick or attending a training course.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008d" />

His former partner said after his conviction that Norris had once hit him during an argument, bruising his head and once threw a bottle at him, which caused him to break up with Norris.<ref name="Daily Mirror 2008" /><ref name="Burns 2008" /> He also said that, around the time of the murders, Norris had become engrossed by a storyline in ''[[Holby City]]'', in which a serial killer nurse played by [[Rachel Leskovac]] killed patients with insulin before eventually being uncovered as a murderer.<ref name="Daily Mirror 2008">{{cite news |title=Nurse Colin Norris given 30-year jail term for murders |newspaper=Daily Mirror |date=5 March 2008}}</ref> This same storyline is believed to have inspired another UK nurse, [[Benjamin Geen]], to kill his patients.<ref name="Banbury Guardian 2006">{{cite news |title=A killer at the bedside |work=Banbury Guardian |date=20 April 2006}}</ref> In the month in which he began killing patients with overdoses, Geen appeared in an edition of the ''[[Banbury Guardian|Banbury Citizen]]'' which featured an interview with Leskovac.<ref name="Banbury Guardian 2006" /> Norris's partner also revealed, after Norris's conviction, that Norris had experimented on his cat Casper before he began killing patients, injecting it with a lethal dose of insulin.<ref name="White 2008" /> The partner had reported him to the police but Norris claimed the cat had died from hitting its head on a wall.<ref name="White 2008" />

==Murders==

===Ethel Hall===
At the time of the murders, Norris worked at [[Leeds General Infirmary]] and [[St James's University Hospital]] in [[Leeds]], having qualified as a nurse only a year earlier.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /><ref name="Stokes 2008a">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1580549/Colin-Norris-From-student-to-deadly-abuser.html |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |title=Colin Norris: From student to deadly abuser |first=Paul |last=Stokes |date=2 March 2008 |accessdate=30 April 2010 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Ford |first=Steve |year=2008 |title=Could Colin Norris have been stopped? |journal=Nursing Times |volume=104 |issue=10 |pages=8–9 |pmid=18416393}}</ref> Suspicions were raised when Norris predicted the death of one patient, Ethel Hall, saying to a fellow nurse hours before: "I predict 5:15&nbsp;a.m. as being the time Ethel Hall will become unwell" since he "had a feeling about her".<ref name="ITV 2008" /> He said that he thought Hall was "going off tonight" and that he was a "jinx" on the hospital.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2007a">{{cite news |title=Murder accused predicted patient's death, court told |work=Yorkshire Post |date=16 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Murder trial nurse 'spoke of jinx' before patient collapsed |work=Yorkshire Post |date=2 November 2007}}</ref> This was despite there being no medical indications of an impending illness, and Hall being on the ward only for a fractured hip.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /> Norris complained that he would have to fill out the paperwork for her death.<ref name="ITV 2008" /><ref name="BBC News 2008b">{{cite news |title=Death forecast led to conviction |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7268836.stm |access-date=23 March 2021 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=3 March 2008}}</ref> Hall duly fell catastrophically ill that morning around 5&nbsp;a.m. and she died some weeks later. When nurses including Norris came to tend to her, he tapped his watch and said to the nurse he had predicted Hall's illness earlier: "I told you".<ref name="ITV 2008" /> A doctor later recounted feeling "annoyed" at Norris's slow reaction to the collapse.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008b">{{cite news |title=Patient collapsed... just as the accused predicted |work=Yorkshire Post |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> An anonymous male nurse called Hall's son from the hospital at 5:30 a.m. that morning telling him that she had taken a "turn for the worse", and it was not established who this man was.<ref>{{cite news |title=Doctor raised murder alarm at shock coma |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=31 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="Yorkshire Post 2007b" /> The next night, Norris specifically called the ward to ask what had happened to Hall.<ref>{{cite news |title=Murder-charge nurse 'predicted time of trouble' |work=Yorkshire Post |date=3 November 2007}}</ref>

A blood sample was taken from Hall after a doctor raised concerns and ordered blood tests, and her blood was found to contain an inexplicably massive amount of insulin – 1000 units in just one sample – and this became the main hard evidence in the police case.<ref name="ITV 2008" /><ref name="BBC News 2008b" /> The doctor who had ordered the tests was a [[diabetes]] expert who specialised in insulin and hypoglycaemic episodes, and she had believed the incident to be suspicious.<ref name="Really 2016" /> No doctor or medical staff member had prescribed her this drug, and she had no condition that required it to be issued.<ref name="Really 2016" /><ref name="Yorkshire Post 2007c">{{cite news |title=Nurse 'killed four elderly patients with insulin shots' |work=Yorkshire Post |date=17 October 2007}}</ref> The amount of insulin in Hall's blood was about 12 times the normal level, and it had been injected into her system.<ref name="BBC News 2008a">{{cite news |title=Nurse guilty of killing patients |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7267409.stm |access-date=23 March 2021 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=3 March 2008}}</ref><ref name="Simpson 2005">{{cite news |last1=Simpson |first1=Cameron |title=Scots nurse charged with killing patients; Father's shock at murder allegations |work=The Herald |date=14 October 2005 |page=2}}</ref> The insulin was manufactured and not produced naturally in the body.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2007b">{{cite news |title=Patient's son 'told of insulin discovery in body' |work=Yorkshire Post |date=31 October 2007}}</ref> It had been injected into her abdomen, as indicated by the fact that a bulge was found under her skin there that was consistent with a large injection of fluid.<ref name="Stokes 2007b" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Patient, 86 must have been murdered, says QC |work=Yorkshire Post |date=19 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="Thornton 2007" /> Doctors believed it was done by someone with nursing or medical experience.<ref name="Stokes 2007b" /><ref name="Thornton 2007" /> The results of the tests led the hospital to contact the police.<ref name="Norfolk 2007" />

It was discovered after Hall's death that insulin had also been taken from the storage fridge, and Norris later admitted that he was the last person to have accessed this fridge before Hall had been injected with insulin.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Two [[vials]] of insulin were found to have been taken from the fridge, which had to have been taken by someone during the night shift which Norris was working when Hall became unwell.<ref name="Really 2016" /> Norris had on a previous occasion been caught stealing drugs from the hospital.<ref name="Really 2016" /> Norris also admitted that he was the last person to see Hall at 4.30&nbsp;am, half an hour before she fell into the [[hypoglycemia|hypoglycaemic coma]]. at around 5&nbsp;am.<ref name="ITV 2008" />

===Previous cases===
{{Multiple image|perrow=1/1
| total_width       = 250
| image1            = LGI Old Building 1 12 June 2015.jpg
| image2            = Jimmys Entrance 2008.jpg
| footer            = [[Leeds General Infirmary]] and [[St James's University Hospital]], where Norris worked and where the murders were committed.  Norris was the only member of staff who worked on the wards at both hospitals where the murders occurred.
}}
Norris immediately came under suspicion and was questioned by police about Hall's murder.<ref name="ITV 2008" /><ref name="Yorkshire Post 2007a" /> It was further decided to investigate the deaths of 72 people who had died on the ward while Norris was working, and a special medical panel decided that 18 of the 72 deaths should be reviewed by independent medical experts.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> The experts confirmed police suspicions that the deaths of three women were as a result of lethal injections of insulin, which causes [[hypoglycaemic]] attacks, but they also identified two more victims, one who had also died of insulin poisoning and another who had survived a massive injected overdose.<ref name="ITV 2008" /><ref name="Jenkins 2008">{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/killer-nurse-colin-norris-must-serve-at-least-30-years-wpk550v8j3s |newspaper=[[The Times]] |location=London |title=Killer nurse Colin Norris must serve at least 30 years |first=Russell |last=Jenkins |date=5 March 2008 |access-date=30 August 2022 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Along with Ethel Hall, none of these women were [[diabetic]] (nor was anyone else on the ward), and all of them had been admitted to the wards simply suffering from broken hips.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /><ref name="Thornton 2007">{{cite news |last1=Thornton |first1=Lucy |title=Someone always died when I worked nights; Nurse Murdered Four, Jury Hear |work=[[Daily Mirror]] |date=17 October 2007 |page=23}}</ref> In any case, the amount of insulin Hall had been injected with was far in excess of what a diabetic patient would need.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2007a" /> They were also all murdered while in non-emergency [[orthopaedic]] wards, where only minor, non-life-threatening things such as broken bones are treated.<ref name="Waites 2005">{{cite news |last1=Waites |first1=Mike |title=Male nurse charged with murders of four hospital patients |work=Yorkshire Post |date=13 October 2005}}</ref> When questioned about the cases Norris said "he seemed to have been unlucky over the last 12 months."<ref name="Chivers 2008" />

The first three incidents occurred at Leeds General Infirmary.<ref name="Howie 2007" /> They began in May 2002, which also notably happened to be when the detailed probationary monitoring of Norris's early progress as a newly qualified nurse ended.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008d">{{cite news |title=Did another rogue nurse inspire plot to steal fatal drugs? |work=Yorkshire Post |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> On 17 May 2002, Norris injected patient Vera Wilby with an overdose of the painkiller [[morphine]] to make her drowsy (as recorded in the hospital notes and later admitted by Norris<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008c" />), despite the fact that she was in no pain and needed no morphine.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /><ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008d" /> He then administered insulin before going off shift, for no apparent medical reason.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /> Ninety minutes after he went off shift, Wilby was found to be semi-conscious and suffering from a sudden hypoglycaemic attack, but she survived.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /> Wilby had [[dementia]] and had been seen as a "difficult" patient by Norris.<ref name="Heffernan 2007">{{cite news |last1=Heffernan |first1=Catherine |title=Ward nurse accused of killing four patients: Murders committed using insulin, court told: Victims 'could be regarded as a burden to staff' |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=17 October 2007 |page=13}}</ref> On 12 June, another patient, Doris Ludlam, was admitted to Norris's ward with a broken hip.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /> On 25 June, she was also given an unnecessary injection of morphine (as recorded in the hospital notes and later admitted by Norris<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008c" />) followed by an overdose of insulin, and Norris then again went off shift.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /><ref name="Heffernan 2007" /> She was discovered in a coma 40 minutes after he went off shift.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /> 88-year-old Bridget Bourke, who had been admitted to the ward on 16 June also with a broken hip, was then discovered at 3:10&nbsp;a.m. on 21 July (by Norris) suffering from a hypoglycaemic attack; she died the next day.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /><ref name="Heffernan 2007" />

Norris was then transferred to [[St James's University Hospital]], and on 10 October 2002, 79-year-old Irene Crookes was admitted to Norris's new ward with a broken hip.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /><ref name="Howie 2007" /> Despite Norris recording that her condition was improving, he supposedly found her "totally unresponsive" just before 6&nbsp;a.m. on 19 October, having suffered a hypoglycaemic attack.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /> She died the next day.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /> It was deemed significant{{By whom|date=July 2024}} that the bizarre cases of hypoglycaemia appeared to follow Norris when he transferred to the new {{nowrap|hospital{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{2px}}}}especially since he was the only staff member who had been transferred.<ref name="Howie 2007" /> He was the only staff member who worked on both the wards in the two hospitals where all the hypoglycaemic incidents were occurring.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008a" /> A colleague later stated that Norris had shown no desire to revive Crookes after she fell into a coma.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Accused nurse predicted patients' time of death |journal=Nursing Standard |date=October 2007 |volume=22 |issue=7 |page=6}}</ref> Another colleague also later testified that Norris had watched in "detached amusement" after one of the victims had fallen into a coma.<ref name="Harrison 2008" /> She said that "everything he did that night had to be prompted".<ref name="Stokes 2007a">{{cite news |last1=Stokes |first1=Paul |title=Nurse 'amused' by patient's coma |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=18 October 2007 |page=19}}</ref> Significantly, it was discovered by a member of staff that they had suddenly run out of insulin after Crooke's hypoglycaemic attack.<ref name="Stokes 2007a" />

It is believed that by the time Hall was killed, Norris had become confident he could carry on killing without being caught since no blood tests for insulin had been done.<ref name="Thornton 2007a">{{cite news |last1=Thornton |first1=Lucy |title=Someone Always Dies When I Work Nights; Murder trial is told of nurse's claim |newspaper=Daily Record |date=17 October 2007 |page=7}}</ref><ref name="Heffernan 2007" /><ref name="Norfolk 2007">{{cite news |last1=Norfolk |first1=Andrew |title=Nurse accused of serial killing 'made chilling prediction of death at 5.15' |newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=17 October 2007 |page=3}}</ref> He would not have expected, therefore, a blood sample to be taken from Hall and sent to a specialist laboratory as it was, which finally led to him being caught,<ref name="Norfolk 2007" /> expecting the death would be considered due to [[natural causes]].<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2007c" />

None of the patients had been prescribed insulin by any doctors or medical staff members in the hospital.<ref name="Really 2016" /> All the victims were considered somewhat "difficult" patients, which likely irritated Norris with his dislike for elderly patients.<ref name="Heffernan 2007" /><ref name="Really 2016" /> One of the women had been throwing her bedclothes off just before he killed her.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nurse convicted of killing four patients |agency=United Press International |date=3 March 2008}}</ref> Bourke was on Norris's ward at the same time as Ludlam and Wilby, meaning he had contact with all three at the same time.<ref name="Howie 2007">{{cite news |last1=Howie |first1=Michael |title=Scots nurse accused of murder by insulin |work=[[The Scotsman]] |date=17 October 2007 |page=1}}</ref> In each case, the fatal dose of insulin had been administered at night, when Norris worked.<ref name="Heffernan 2007" /> At the time of Hall's death, Norris suspiciously said to colleagues: "it is always in the morning when things go wrong" and "someone always dies when I do nights".<ref name="Chivers 2008">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1580554/Colin-Norris-Angel-of-Death-nurse-convicted.html?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_psc_ppc_performancemax_dynamiclandingpages&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-oqdBhDfARIsAO0TrGE8NPIRNn3O5HxhP1ZRGFWf7NNHflKlR3bWtg2WRNVQsXxhUqIBaqYaAjYUEALw_wcB |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315010951/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2008%2F03%2F03%2Fnnurse503.xml |archive-date=15 March 2008 |title=Colin Norris, 'Angel of Death' nurse, convicted |accessdate=3 March 2008 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=3 March 2008 |first=Tom |last=Chivers |location=London}}</ref> He also would have known doctors were not on duty overnight at the hospitals, so they couldn't help the patients when they all collapsed during Norris's night shifts.<ref name="Norfolk 2007" /> Amongst the things the victims all had in common was that they were all frail women and that they all died after suffering broken hips.<ref name="Norfolk 2007" />

==Investigation==
It was found that the only nurse who had cared for all five of the patients and had been there within 2 hours of them becoming catastrophically ill was Norris.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Norris had been one of the few who was on duty at the time of Hall's deterioration in health.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Police analysed medical staff rotas, phone records and personnel files to determine who had access to the wards, insulin and who was on the wards at the time of that incident, and it was found that all staff members except Norris could be ruled out as it was only Norris who was on duty when all the incidents occurred.<ref name="ITV 2008" /><ref name="Really 2016" /> He was also the only staff member who worked on both the wards where the incidents occurred.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008a" /> Norris admitted predicting the time of Hall's death to his colleague but said it was because he had a "black sense of humour".<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Investigators ordered the exhumation of the body of Bridget Bourke, which, significantly, revealed that she had been given large amounts of insulin.<ref name="Stokes 2007a" /> The other two patients who had died had their bodies cremated, so could not be tested.<ref name="Stokes 2007a" />

Norris was suspended from his job (on full pay) while the police investigation was carried out.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008d" /><ref name="Evening Times (Glasgow) 2005" /> After he was first arrested, Norris immediately left Leeds and went back to Scotland, before then leaving the UK eight times to go abroad, including to [[Tenerife]] for a six-month holiday.<ref name="Evening Times (Glasgow) 2005">{{cite news |title=Glasgow Nurse, 29 Charged with Killing 4 Patients; Man appears in court over deaths of frail pensioners in hospital |work=Evening Times (Glasgow) |date=13 October 2005 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="MacAskill 2008" /> After his conviction his partner recounted an incident around this time when Norris became violent and drunk, and wouldn't stop crying because he said he was scared of going to prison.<ref name="Burns 2008" /> Norris's mother defended her son's trips around Europe, saying he was "trying to live his life the best he could while under the pressure of a police investigation".<ref name="MacAskill 2008" />

When police questioned Norris about the fact that the vials of insulin, the murder weapon in Hall's case, had gone missing from the fridge that morning when Hall was killed, he responded by saying: "obviously if someone was to kill someone, they wouldn't leave their signature would they?  To say that they were there."<ref name="ITV 2008" /> He denied ever injecting Hall with insulin.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2007c" /> The police were dismissive of Norris's claim that an intruder must have come in during the night shift through the fire escape while nurses were having a cigarette before injecting Hall.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2007a">{{cite news |title=Murder accused nurse: 'I wouldn't put lives at risk' |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=19 October 2007}}</ref> Norris said this despite revealing he had never once seen an intruder on the ward.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2007a" /> Detectives believed this suggestion that an intruder had sneaked onto a bay at night to inject a patient before sneaking away without anybody realising (since no other staff member could have been responsible) was highly implausible.<ref name="ITV 2008" />

Norris behaved bizarrely in the interviews he had with the police.<ref name="Really 2016" /> Throughout the interviews he acted notably aggressively and arrogantly, challenging detectives, and became physically angry at times to the point where he had to be restrained.<ref name="Really 2016" /> Investigators stated that Norris did not seem to be explicitly denying the murders, but insisting that they could not be proved, demanding officers told him how he did it and saying that he didn't think their facts were "good enough" to prove he had killed them.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Criminologist Jane Monkton-Smith said it was particularly unusual that Norris didn't behave as if he wanted to defend himself in interviews, but instead challenged the police and acted evasively.<ref name="Really 2016" /> Norris later admitted that he was trying to show how much more he knew than the police in interviews.<ref name="Really 2016" /> In 2004, during the investigation, he walked into the offices of the ''[[Yorkshire Evening Post]]'' and declared that the police had "nothing on him" to reporters.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2008a">{{cite news |title=Evil killer gets 30-year minimum sentence |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=4 March 2008}}</ref>

Chief superintendent on the case [[Chris Gregg]], holder of the [[Queen's Police Medal]] and who caught [[David Bieber]], '[[Wearside Jack]]' and the killer of [[Leanne Tiernan]], said that Norris's prediction of Hall's illness showed that it wasn't just a spontaneous incident where a criminal nurse at work had, for whatever reason decided to kill someone, saying "he actually premeditated this, hours before". Gregg said: "I think he was cocky; I think he was over-confident.  He was showing off".<ref name="ITV 2008" /> A [[criminal psychologist]] stated that, despite Norris's prediction, it was unlikely that he wanted to get caught, rather that he merely wanted to demonstrate a sense of superior knowledge.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Police noted that, in interviews, Norris showed no empathy for the women who had died or for their families, and claimed he couldn't remember any of the women.<ref name="ITV 2008" />

==Trial==
Norris, recorded as being of Egilsay Terrace, [[Glasgow]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Nurse charged |work=Liverpool Echo |date=13 October 2005 |page=8}}</ref> went to trial in 2007 at [[Newcastle Crown Court]]. Norris's father did not object to the decision to charge his son, whom he described as "scum".<ref>{{cite news |title=Dad slams his murder accused son |work=Evening Times (Glasgow) |date=14 October 2005 |page=2}}</ref> At trial Norris denied ever having predicted Hall's death, despite having admitted this in police interviews.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2007a" /> He admitted giving Vera Wilby and Doris Ludlam overdoses of [[morphine]] on 17 May and 25 June 2002 respectively (police had found these injections recorded by him in the hospital records).<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008c">{{cite news |title=I was only trying to ease their pain |work=Yorkshire Post |date=5 February 2008}}</ref> He had given Ludlam twice the allowed dose of morphine.<ref>{{cite news |title=Murder accused nurse denies becoming confident |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=8 February 2008}}</ref> It was highlighted that, when police first interviewed him, Norris had not mentioned the cases of Ludlam, Bourke and Crookes when he was asked if he had ever had experience of patients falling into hypoglycaemic comas, even though that is what they had experienced when Norris was on duty.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2008b" /> Police said they believed this was done on purpose so he didn't arouse suspicion about those cases at that stage, since they had not yet been uncovered by investigators.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2008b" /> It was also brought to the jury's attention that documents had been found at Norris's home detailing a less painful way of injecting morphine.<ref>{{cite news |title=I have never killed anyone, nurse tells jury |work=Yorkshire Post |date=8 February 2008}}</ref> Norris claimed, despite the blood test evidence, that none of the patients had been injected and if they were then an 'intruder' must have done it (since records showed no other staff member could have been responsible).<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2008b">{{cite news |title=Nurse refutes killing patients |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=6 February 2008}}</ref> This is despite the fact that the insulin fridge, where the drug had apparently been taken from, had a coded access and only medical staff could access it.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2008a" />

The length and complexity of the trial meant that judge [[John Griffith Williams|Mr Justice Griffith Williams]] took five days to read out his 571-page summing-up. The jury retired on 27 February 2008 and deliberated for a further five days.<ref>{{cite web |last1=May |first1=Paul |title=Science fact and science fiction: The case of Colin Norris |url=https://www.thejusticegap.com/science-fact-and-science-fiction-the-case-of-colin-norris/ |website=[[The Justice Gap]] |access-date=27 June 2025 |date=12 March 2021}}</ref>

Norris was convicted by an 11-1 [[Hung jury#United Kingdom#England and Wales|majority verdict]]<ref name="ITV 2008" /> on 3 March 2008 for the murder of four women, and the [[attempted murder]] of a fifth (Vera Wilby, aged 90).<ref name="BBC News 2008a" /> He was sentenced the following day to [[life imprisonment]], and ordered to serve a minimum term of 30 years in prison.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7276700.stm |title=Killer nurse must serve 30 years |work=[[BBC News]] |date=4 March 2008 |accessdate=4 March 2008}}</ref> Norris had acted particularly aggressively throughout the trial, banging on the windows of the judge and attacking members of the press when departing the court, shoving two against a wall.<ref name="ITV 2008" /><ref name="Brown 2008" /> Pictures of these attacks were not shown on television for fear of influencing the jury.<ref name="Brown 2008" /> The judge told Norris when sentencing: <blockquote>"You are, I have absolutely no doubt, a thoroughly evil and dangerous man. You are an arrogant and manipulative man with a real dislike of elderly patients. The most telling evidence was that observation of one of your patients, Bridget Tarpey, who said 'he did not like us old women'. My view is you did not like them because they required too much nursing and were too demanding of your time. You are in my judgment essentially lazy as evidenced by your absences from student placements and work."<ref name="Jenkins 2008" /></blockquote>

Norris's mother June Morrison said he had made her so proud as he grew to be successful in his chosen profession.<ref name="MacAskill 2008">{{cite news |last1=MacAskill |first1=Grace |title=I Was So Proud; Exclusive: Mum on Perfect Son Turned Mass Killer |work=Glasgow Mail |date=9 March 2008 |page=4}}</ref>

Referred to in the British [[News media|press]] as the "Angel of Death", Norris was convicted of killing his victims by injecting them with high levels of [[insulin]].<ref name="Chivers 2008" /> The four victims were:<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" />
* Doris Ludlam, died 27 June 2002.
* Bridget Bourke, died 22 July 2002.
* Irene Crooks, died 20 October 2002.
* Ethel Hall, died 11 December 2002.

All of these victims had been killed in Norris's first year of working as a nurse.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Hall was a mother of one and a grandmother of two.<ref name="Bruce 2005">{{cite news |last1=Bruce |first1=David |title=Victims who never came out of hospital |newspaper=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=13 October 2005}}</ref> Ludlam was a mother of two, a grandmother and great-grandmother who had worked as a nursery school teacher and fostered children for the charity [[Barnardo's]].<ref name="Bruce 2005" /> Wilby was a vulnerable widow.<ref name="Bruce 2005" /> Crooks died on her 79th birthday, unable to ever open her cards or presents.<ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008a">{{cite news |title=On her 79th birthday, patient's cards lay unopened |work=Yorkshire Post |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> Hall's son Stuart expressed his relief at Norris's conviction, stating: "I think he needs to be kept inside".<ref name="ITV 2008" /> He added: "He has got the knowledge to kill people and to do it discreetly. That makes him a danger to society and he must be kept inside. We hope Colin Norris never leaves prison and can never harm anyone else again."<ref name="Burns 2008">{{cite news |last1=Burns |first1=Janice |title=You're an Evil and Dangerous Man; Angel of death caged for 30 years |newspaper=Daily Record |date=5 March 2008 |page=9}}</ref><ref name="White 2008">{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Stephen |title='He is evil .. he was trying to play God': Fury of Families Nurse Murdered 4 Women |newspaper=Daily Mirror |date=4 March 2008 |page=15}}</ref><ref name="Yorkshire Post 2008b" />

After the verdict was announced, [[Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust]] apologised to the victims' families for Norris's "disturbing" crimes, subsequently describing him as an "extremely dangerous criminal".<ref name="BBC News 2008a" /> In 2009, the [[Nursing and Midwifery Council]] struck off Norris from the medical register, taking just five minutes to come to a decision on the matter.<ref>{{cite news |title=Killer nurse struck off register |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/8008259.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=20 April 2009 |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> Norris was imprisoned at [[HM Prison Frankland]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/killer-nurse-who-poisoned-patients-15636763 |title=Killer nurse starts prison foodbank that feeds County Durham families |first1=Kali |last1=Lindsay |first2=Dan |last2=Warburton |date=6 January 2019 |work=ChronicleLive |accessdate=22 April 2021}}</ref>

==Other suspected victims==
After the trial, Chris Gregg revealed that he and the other detectives believed Norris had been responsible for up to six other deaths at the hospitals.<ref name="Burns 2008b">{{cite news |last1=Burns |first1=Janice |title=Angel of Death; Scots nurse guilty of murdering 4 frail old ladies with drug |work=Daily Record |date=4 March 2008 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Stokes 2008b">{{cite news |last1=Stokes |first1=Paul |last2=Britten |first2=Nick |title=Nurse killed night shift 'nuisances' |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> He was the only nurse on duty when three other suspicious deaths occurred, but police felt there was not enough evidence to pursue convictions for them.<ref name="Stokes 2008b" /> Norris had also been arrested for another death of a patient, but the [[Crown Prosecution Service]] decided not to charge him in this case because of "complicating factors".<ref name="Norfolk 2008">{{cite news |last1=Norfolk |first1=Andrew |last2=Jenkins |first2=Russell |title=Nurse was a serial killer in the process of perfecting his craft |work=[[The Times]] |date=4 March 2008 |page=9}}</ref> In two other suspicious cases, the fact that there had been no post-mortem examinations prevented enough evidence being accumulated to charge Norris for their deaths.<ref name="Norfolk 2008" />

==Motive==
{{Location map many | Scotland Glasgow
| width = 200
| float = right
| caption = Norris grew up very close to [[Ruchill Hospital]], where the infamous [[Jessie McTavish]] incident occurred in the 1970s
| label = Milton
  | pos = top
  | marksize = 8
  | label_size = 100
  | coordinates = {{coord|55.900754|-4.246217}}
| label2 = Ruchill Hospital
  | pos2 = left
  | mark2size = 8
  | mark7 = Green pog.svg
  | label2_size = 100
  | coordinates2 = {{coord|55.8888|-4.2640}}
}}
[[File:Skyline of northern Glasgow, from the former site of Ruchill Hospital.png|thumb|300px|right|The site of the former [[Ruchill Hospital]] in Glasgow in 2021 (today only the water tower remains), which is where the Jessie McTavish incident infamously occurred. Norris lived in Milton on the left of the image.]]
{{See also|Jessie McTavish}}
[[Jessie McTavish]], a nurse convicted and then controversially cleared of the 1974 murder of an 80-year-old patient with [[insulin]], has been identified as the likely inspiration for Norris.<ref name="Stokes 2008a" /> She had worked at [[Ruchill Hospital]] in Glasgow, less than a mile from where Norris grew up.<ref name="Leask 2008">{{cite news |last1=Leask |first1=David |title=Did Sister Jessie's story influence carer who used insulin to kill? |work=The Herald |date=4 March 2008 |page=5}}</ref> She had been released on appeal after her defence team successfully argued that the trial judge had inadvertently misled the jury in his final summing up, even though the appeal court judges said that it was something a "few words could have cured" and that there was enough evidence to support the prosecution.<ref name="Stokes 2008a" /> Norris's personal tutor at university gave a specific talk to him and other students on her case on 11 January 2001, a year before Norris committed his first attack, in which Norris used the same method as McTavish had been accused of using.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /><ref name="The Scotsman 2008" /><ref name="Stokes 2008a" /><ref name="Daily Record 2008">{{cite news |title=Legacy of a lecture on Sister Jessie; The Inspiration 'Decent Young Man' Was Serial Killer Who Showed No Remorse for His Murder Spree |newspaper=Daily Record |date=4 March 2008 |page=7}}</ref> Norris was tasked with "reviewing" her conduct, and in doing so, he would have learned that insulin is the perfect weapon for murder because it leaves the blood very quickly.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2007b">{{cite news |title=Murder accused nurse: 'I don't like old people' |newspaper=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=16 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="Daily Record 2008" /> Just like Norris, McTavish had 'predicted' the exact time when a healthy patient would die.<ref name="Stokes 2008">{{cite news |last1=Stokes |first1=Paul |title=Nurse murdered elderly patients who were a nuisance on the night shift |date=4 March 2008 |page=8}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=August 2023}} She was able to continue her career in nursing after she was released on appeal.<ref name="Leask 2008" /> Norris had notably also attended lectures in 1999 on [[diabetes]] and the treatment of diabetic patients with insulin, where he learned about the consequences of blood sugars being too high or too low.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph 2008" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Nurse 'didn't like geriatric patients' |work=Yorkshire Post |date=19 October 2007}}</ref>

[[Forensic psychiatrist]] Sir Richard Badcock, the only psychiatrist to formally assess the serial killer doctor [[Harold Shipman]], stated his belief that Norris was a [[psychopath]], who killed elderly patients simply because they got in his way.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Just like Norris, Shipman's motive was not immediately clear.<ref name="Brown 2008">{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Craig |title=Guilty of murdering four elderly patients - and he was only halted by vigilance of doctor |work=[[The Scotsman]] |date=4 March 2008 |page=4}}</ref> Chris Gregg said that he believed that Norris decided to poison the women simply because he found elderly patients irritating.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Psychologist and senior lecturer at [[Manchester Metropolitan University]] Dr David Holmes concluded that Norris was searching for a sense of power, since a medical staff member like him "administers literally life and death to affirm their own status or self-appointed status".<ref>{{cite news |title=Why did a nurse turn to murder? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7268730.stm |access-date=8 August 2022 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=3 March 2008}}</ref> High-profile criminologist [[David Wilson (criminologist)|David Wilson]] commented on the case of Norris and other recently convicted serial killers by saying: "What's happening at the moment is that new groups are emerging as being vulnerable to attack".<ref name="McDonald 2009">{{cite news |last1=McDonald |first1=Barry |title='Serial Killers? We're Making It Easier for Them' Mass murderers always target the same five types of people, says Professor David Wilson. So why do we still not see them coming? Interview |newspaper=The Herald |date=17 October 2009 |page=20}}</ref>

===Dislike of elderly===
As a trainee nurse Norris often refused to work with elderly patients, saying he "didn't want to be working with that type of person".<ref name="Really 2016">{{cite AV media |title=Colin Norris |url=https://player.stv.tv/episode/48cz/dcd-nurses-who-kill |work=Nurses Who Kill |publisher=[[Really (TV channel)|Really]] |date=30 November 2016 |format=Series 1, episode 8 |type=Television documentary}}</ref> He admitted to police he found elderly patients challenging.<ref name="ITV 2008" />

Police would later discover that Norris had repeatedly mistreated elderly patients in the early months of his nursing career at the same Leeds hospitals in which he would later go on to murder patients. In one instance, an elderly man asked Norris to empty his [[catheter]] bag, only for Norris to flatly refuse and insist he do it himself, before going off duty.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> The elderly man then collapsed after trying to reach the bathroom by himself.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Other patients stated that Norris had treated them in an offhand and callous manner, and that Norris had an apparent dislike of old people.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> Two elderly ex-patients said that Norris had verbally abused them after they rang an emergency buzzer on a ward when an elderly patient climbed out of bed, with Norris then saying to them "I hope you suffer" and "rot in hell".<ref name="Stokes 2008a" />

==Aftermath==

===Inquiry===
In 2010, an independent inquiry into Norris's murders was held.<ref name="Dean 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Dean |first1=Erin |title=Serial killer inquiry prompts call for student practice passports |journal=Nursing Standard |date=February 2010 |volume=24 |issue=22 |page=6 |doi=10.7748/ns.24.45.6.s4}}</ref> The inquiry recommended the introduction of 'student practice passports', which would report on the personality and integrity of students while they trained as medical professionals at university.<ref name="Dean 2010" /> It was felt that this may have flagged up Norris as an issue earlier had they been in use at the time of his studying, since he had knowingly acted aggressively during placements, had a poor absence record and had clashed with tutors on numerous occasions.<ref name="ITV 2008" /><ref name="Dean 2010" /> These 'passports', it was argued, would allow universities to evaluate at the end of a student's course whether the individual was fit to join the medical register.<ref name="Dean 2010" /> The inquiry found that the University of Dundee had not identified Norris's difficulties in its reference to employers, and the inquiry concluded that organisational, systems and cultural factors provided an opportunity for Norris to murder the four women in 2002.<ref name="Dean 2010" /> Nurse managers had already been urged after Norris's conviction in 2008 to take greater care when recruiting staff, and NHS employers had introduced new guidance on pre-employment checks.<ref name="Harrison 2008">{{cite journal |last1=Harrison |first1=Sarah |title=Tougher pre-employment checks not expected to prevent murders |journal=Nursing Standard |date=March 2008 |volume=22 |issue=27 |page=10}}</ref>

===Claims of innocence===
Norris appealed against his conviction in 2009.<ref name="BBC News 2009">{{cite news |title=Killer nurse loses appeal against conviction |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/8424131.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |accessdate=23 April 2021 |date=21 December 2009}}</ref> Originally, Norris planned to appeal on the grounds that the trial judge had shown a "lack of balance", but then scrapped these plans and sacked his legal team.<ref name="BBC News 2009" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Killer nurse sacks lawyers |newspaper=Daily Record |date=30 January 2009 |page=33}}</ref> He subsequently appealed on the grounds that the judge had "misdirected" the jury in his final summary but he lost this appeal, with judge Lord Justice Aikens ruling the convictions were "safe" and saying that the case against Norris was "very strong indeed".<ref name="BBC News 2009" /> The appeal court rejected both grounds of the appeal, saying that the judge's directions "cannot validly be criticised" and that there was no misdirection to the jury.<ref name="BBC News 2009" /> The appeal court instead said that the judge's summary in the original case was an exemplary "tour de force".<ref name="Really 2016" /> The judges also refused to believe that the deaths were "coincidental".<ref name="McIntosh 2009">{{cite news |last1=McIntosh |first1=Lindsay |title=Killer nurse jailed for 30 years loses appeal |work=[[The Times]] |date=22 December 2009 |page=18}}</ref> Norris's defence team had argued that the deaths could have been the result of 'naturally' raised insulin levels caused by severe spontaneous hypoglycaemia, but the judges rejected this possibility.<ref name="McIntosh 2009" />

On 4 October 2011, the [[BBC]] reported that retired Professor Vincent Marks – a leading expert on [[insulin]] poisoning – was concerned about Norris's conviction. He had been asked by the Norris family to find evidence in the case.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2011">{{cite news |title=Colin Norris: Expert hope for Leeds hospital murderer |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=4 October 2011}}</ref> He claimed the jury at Norris's trial was wrongly led to believe by experts that a cluster of [[hypoglycaemic]] episodes, among people who were not diabetic, was sinister. After carrying out his own studies, he said: "Looking at all the evidence, all I can say is I think Colin Norris's conviction is [[Miscarriage of justice|unsafe]]".<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2011" /><ref name="BBC News 2011">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15068743 |title=Colin Norris jury 'misled' says insulin expert |website=[[BBC News]] |date=4 October 2011 |accessdate=19 March 2021}}</ref> He claimed that his own studies had shown that up to 1 in 10 of hypoglycaemia episodes in elderly people were caused naturally.

Marks said the four patients picked out by the experts after Mrs Hall's death "were all at very high risk of developing spontaneous hypoglycaemia" because they had risk factors such as malnutrition, infection and [[Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome|multi-organ failure]].<ref name="BBC News 2011" />

In 2011 Louise Shorter, the former producer of [[BBC]]'s ''[[Rough Justice (British TV programme)|Rough Justice]]'', and journalist Mark Daly produced the documentary ''A Jury in the Dark'', arguing that there were logical, non-criminal explanations for all the deaths.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=1047&c=hospital_serial_killer_a_jury_in_the_dark |work=Inside Time |location=London |title=Hospital Serial Killer: A Jury in the Dark |date=October 2011 |accessdate=16 July 2013}}</ref> They and Marks claimed that Ethel Hall's hypoglycaemic arrest could have been caused naturally by '[[auto-immune disease|auto-immune syndrome]]'.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2011" /> The possibility of auto-immune syndrome having caused the women's arrests had also already been considered and rejected at the trial.<ref name="Yorkshire Evening Post 2011" /> During research for the film, Daly discovered an additional death at Leeds General Infirmary which police had initially been investigating as a potential murder carried out by a male nurse, however; the death "went from suspicious to non-suspicious", when police learned that Norris was not on duty at the time.<ref name="The Guardian 2013">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/may/20/fresh-evidence-angel-of-death-colin-norris |work=[[The Guardian]] |title=Fresh evidence challenges 'Angel of Death' nurse Colin Norris's conviction |date=20 May 2013 |accessdate=16 July 2013}}</ref> Norris's mother has tried to prove her son innocent, saying: "Either I am the mother of Scotland's worst serial killer or mother to the victim of the country's most terrible [[miscarriage of justice]]".<ref>{{cite web |first=Jon |last=Robins |title=Colin Norris: 'Angel of Death' nurse case goes back to Appeal judges |url=https://www.thejusticegap.com/colin-norris-angel-of-death-nurse-case-goes-back-to-appeal-judges/ |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=[[The Justice Gap]] |date=15 February 2021}}</ref><ref name="McGivern 2015">{{cite news |last1=McGivern |first1=Mark |title=My Son Is Not the Angel of Death My Son; Breaking Her Silence Scots Nurse's Shattered Mum |newspaper=Daily Record |date=26 January 2015 |page=6}}</ref> After watching the BBC programme the sister-in-law of victim Bridget Bourke said that she was still convinced of Norris's guilt.<ref name="McGivern 2015" />

In May 2013 the [[Criminal Cases Review Commission]] confirmed it was re-examining the Norris case in the light of new medical and scientific evidence contradictory to that submitted to the jury during the original trial.<ref name="The Guardian 2013" /> However, in 2014, the son of victim Vera Wilby, John Barrie Wilby, said that he was "sad and upset" about the claims that Norris may be innocent, and said that he was still convinced of his guilt.<ref>{{cite news |title=He's still guilty: Son of pensioner killed by Leeds nurse Colin Norris after BBC documentary |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/crime/hes-still-guilty-son-pensioner-killed-leeds-nurse-colin-norris-after-bbc-documentary-1828372 |work=[[The Yorkshire Post]] |accessdate=23 April 2021}}</ref> In the same year there was outrage amongst elderly residents when a benefit concert was held for Norris in Dundee, with a spokesperson of the Dundee Pensioners' Forum stating: "Having a party for someone convicted of murdering all these elderly, vulnerable people is disgraceful. It's a slap in the face doing it, with all those families still grieving their loved ones".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Beatson |first1=Jamie |title=Killer Tunes; Outrage over city benefit concert for serial murderer nurse dubbed the Angel of Death |newspaper=Daily Record |date=15 March 2014 |page=31}}</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' declared he was one of "the 11 most evil staff in the [[NHS]]".<ref name="Kennedy 2014">{{cite news |last1=Kennedy |first1=Dominic |title=Revealed: the 11 most evil staff in the NHS |newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=8 January 2014 |page=15}}</ref> In January 2015 the foreman of the jury that convicted Norris, after being shown the evidence in the BBC programme, said that he now believes him to be innocent; apparently the second member of the jury to do so (although this would still leave enough jury members to convict him, 10).<ref name="Cook 2015">{{cite news |first=James |last=Cook |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-31021447 |title=Colin Norris: Juror's doubt over serial killer verdict |work=[[BBC News]] |date=28 January 2015 |accessdate=8 June 2015}}</ref><ref name="Ferguson 2015">{{cite news |last1=Ferguson |first1=John |title=Juror's Killer Doubt; Angel of Death serial killer given appeal hope |newspaper=Daily Record |date=29 January 2015 |page=23}}</ref> He said that "the evidence shows a murder wasn't committed at all" (although in 2021 the CCRC concluded that Hall's case at least was indeed a clear murder).<ref name="CCRC 2021" /><ref name="Ferguson 2015" />

====2021 CCRC referral to Court of Appeal====
The [[Criminal Case Review Commission]] was given scientific information that the test which had established that Ethel Hall's blood was full of insulin was inaccurate, and that it was therefore not possible for her to have been murdered by an overdose of insulin.<ref name="Kennedy 2014a">{{cite news |last1=Kennedy |first1=Dominic |title='Angel of Death' says flawed blood test led to conviction for killing 4 women |work=[[The Times]] |date=10 February 2014 |page=22}}</ref> In 2021, the Criminal Case Review Commission discounted this claim when they said that there was "no dispute" that Hall was "murdered by the injection of insulin". The CCRC considered that Norris' conviction for Hall's murder relies on support from the other four convictions and the Crown's claim that no one else apart from Norris was responsible. The commission was "satisfied" that the claim that Norris was solely responsible is "less secure" with the new expert evidence.<ref name="CCRC 2021" />

In February 2021 the CCRC stated that after a "detailed review of this complex and difficult case" they had decided to refer the case to the [[Court of Appeal (England and Wales)|Court of Appeal]].<ref name="CCRC 2021" /> It was said there was a serious possibility that the conviction was unsafe.<ref>{{cite news |title=Colin Norris: Serial killer nurse case referred to Court of Appeal |work=[[BBC News]] |date=12 February 2021 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-43216615 |access-date=22 April 2021}}</ref> As to Ethel Hall, the CCRC said that "there is no dispute that she was murdered by the injection of insulin".<ref name="CCRC 2021">{{cite web |title=Commission refers the murder and attempted murder convictions of Colin Norris to the Court of Appeal |url=https://ccrc.gov.uk/news/commission-refers-the-murder-and-attempted-murder-convictions-of-colin-norris-to-the-court-of-appeal/ |website=CCRC |access-date=7 August 2022 |date=12 February 2021}}</ref> The experts who advised the CCRC said that it was not possible for a natural hypoglycaemic episode to have caused Hall's death, but could not exclude it being a possibility in the other four cases.<ref name="CCRC 2021" /> Norris's defence team stated that Hall's case was a case of natural death, as with the others.<ref name="McGivern 2015" /><ref name="Really 2016" /> The CCRC said that, in reaching the decision, they had been "greatly assisted" by the evidence of the experts employed by Norris's defence team.<ref name="CCRC 2021" />

Following the referral, the Court of Appeal began to re-examine Norris' case in May 2025.<ref name="Halpin 2025">{{cite web |last1=Halpin |first1=Danny |title=Colin Campbell: New expert knowledge may lead to nurse's murder conviction being unsafe |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/health/colin-campbell-new-expert-knowledge-may-lead-to-nurses-murder-conviction-being-unsafe-5115778 |website=[[The Yorkshire Post]] |access-date=6 May 2025 |date=6 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Serial killer nurse Colin Norris launches appeal against conviction |url=https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2025-05-06/serial-killer-nurse-launches-appeal-against-conviction |website=[[ITV News]] |access-date=6 May 2025 |date=6 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=New evidence may prove nurse's conviction 'unsafe' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crm3mzymdgpo |website=[[BBC News]] |access-date=6 May 2025 |date=6 May 2025}}</ref> The renewed appeal was described as being of interest to lawyers acting for [[Lucy Letby]] due to her case involving similar concerns about the reliability of insulin testing and expert evidence,<ref name="Dugan 2025">{{cite web |last1=Dugan |first1=Emily |title=After experts find 'no medical evidence' of murder, will Lucy Letby get a retrial? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/05/after-experts-find-no-medical-evidence-of-will-lucy-letby-get-a-retrial |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=6 May 2025 |date=5 February 2025 |quote=Colin Norris, a nurse known as the "angel of death" who was convicted of killing four patients by injecting them with insulin, will have his case considered by the court of appeal in April [sic]. It was referred by the CCRC on the basis that the prosecution wrongly asserted that spontaneous hypoglycaemia was extremely rare. Letby's lawyers will be watching closely.}}</ref><ref name="Dugan 2025a">{{cite web |last1=Dugan |first1=Emily |title=Lucy Letby's lawyers hope 'Angel of Death' appeal can help their cause |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/lucy-letby-lawyers-colin-norris-appeal-7kkbgrzb0 |website=[[The Sunday Times]] |access-date=4 May 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250503234446/https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/lucy-letby-lawyers-colin-norris-appeal-7kkbgrzb0 |archive-date=3 May 2025 |date=4 May 2025 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}</ref> though the Court of Appeal would later give an oblique warning against drawing such parallels when handing down its judgement.<ref name="Boffey 2025">{{cite news |last1=Boffey |first1=Daniel |title=Nurse loses appeal against 2008 convictions for murder of four patients in Leeds |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/26/nurse-colin-campbell-loses-appeal-against-2008-conviction-for-of-four-patients-in-leeds |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=27 June 2025 |date=26 June 2025}}</ref> Norris was represented during the fourteen-day hearing by [[Michael Mansfield]] KC.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c23m2ky10gxo |title=Convicted nurse appeal 'straightforward', court told |work=[[BBC News]] |date=4 June 2025 |access-date=26 June 2025}}</ref> The court reserved judgement on 6 June 2025<ref>{{cite news |title=Convicted nurse faces wait for appeal ruling |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1deyg09gyxo |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=27 June 2025 |date=6 June 2025}}</ref> and then rejected Norris' appeal on 26 June, holding that there was "no doubt" about his conviction.<ref>{{Cite news |URL=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c23gnk3jm44o |title=Nurse's murder convictions upheld by senior judges |work=[[BBC News]] |date=26 June 2025 |access-date=26 June 2025 |first=Tim |last=Dale}}</ref><ref name="Boffey 2025" />

==In popular culture==
In 2008, Norris's case was the focus of an [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] ''[[Real Crime]]'' documentary.<ref name="ITV 2008" /> In 2014, Norris was the subject of the BBC ''[[Panorama (British TV programme)|Panorama]]'' documentary "The Innocent Serial Killer?"<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC One - Panorama, the Innocent Serial Killer? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04vs09g |website=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of serial killers in the United Kingdom]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2009/2697.html 2009 Court of Appeal opinion]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqHdXPiXoWc 2008 ''Real Crime'' documentary on Norris]
* [https://player.stv.tv/episode/48cz/dcd-nurses-who-kill 2016 ''Nurses Who Kill'' documentary on Norris, via STV player]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15068743 Convictions Unsafe]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Colin}}
[[Category:1976 births]]
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[[Category:British people convicted of attempted murder]]
[[Category:Criminals from Glasgow]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Male nurses]]
[[Category:Medical serial killers]]
[[Category:Nurses convicted of murdering patients]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by England and Wales]]
[[Category:People with antisocial personality disorder]]
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[[Category:Scottish gay men]]
[[Category:Scottish nurses]]
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[[Category:Scottish serial killers]]