Somerset care home owner 'not a drug-crazed killer'

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Rachel Baker has admitted being addicted to drugs she took from patients

A care home boss accused of killing two elderly residents with a lethal overdose is not a "drug-crazed monster", a court has heard.

Rachel Baker, 44, who ran Parkfields in Butleigh, Somerset, denies murdering Lucy Cox and Mary Hay, 85, with a lethal overdose, in November 2006.

Mrs Baker admitted, at Bristol Crown Court, she took patients' drugs in the "emotional trauma" of running the home.

But she has denied giving any resident drugs not meant for them.

The jury was read letters and statements Mrs Baker, of Glastonbury, gave police.

In one letter she posed the question: "Why, after 19 years, would I turn into a drug-crazed monster killer?", the court was told.

She also questioned the motives of home staff who had made allegations about her.

It was just one tablet and that started me down the path I went Rachel Baker

Giving evidence, Mrs Baker said she felt "useless" after the death of one resident, Fred Green.

She said: "I devoted my entire time to him. When he was gone I felt empty, that I was useless. I just felt such a big gap.

"The stress, pain and emotional turmoil in my head. I needed to keep going. I needed to refocus myself on carrying on with my job."

Mrs Baker accepted the suggestion of her barrister Richard Smith she "exaggerated symptoms and lied about prescriptions" to obtain drugs for her patients.

She said she was "totally ashamed and disgusted" at her behaviour.

Her abuse of drugs began with the taking of a single tramadol tablet that eased a pulled back, she said.

Mrs Baker told the court: "It just helped. It helped take the pain away. It was just one tablet and that started me down the path I went.

"In a way I desperately wanted someone to find out, because I wanted help."

'Very stressful'

She said: "I had no support. I was expected to do everything because we were always having to save money. It was a very, very vital part of running Parkfields. We simply weren't allowed to spend money. I found it very stressful."

Asked if the residents' care was ever affected by her dependence, she said: "Never. Their care and quality of life was the most important part of my function."

She has now also denied alternative counts of attempted murder and manslaughter relating to Mrs Hay, and a count of manslaughter relating to Mrs Cox.

She had earlier admitted eight counts of possessing class A and C drugs, and one count of perverting the course of justice. She now admitted two further counts of possession of class A drugs.

The trial continues.