Nurse 'predicted patient's death'

Mr Norris is accused of killing patients at two Leeds hospitals

A nurse accused of murdering patients predicted the time when one of them would die, a court has heard.

Colin Norris, 31, predicted 86-year-old Ethel Hall would die during his night shift at Leeds General Infirmary.

Newcastle Crown Court heard he told a nurse it would be "just his luck" as he would have to complete the paperwork.

Mr Norris, of Egilsay Terrace, Glasgow, is on trial for the murder of four elderly patients at two Leeds hospitals in 2002. He denies the charges.

Mr Norris is charged with the murders and attempted murders of Mrs Hall, of Calverley, Doris Ludlum, 80, of Pudsey, and Bridget Bourke, 88, of Holbeck, at Leeds General Infirmary between June and December 2002.

Significantly, he said something quite extraordinary - he went on to predict the time of Ethel Hall's death Robert Smith QC

He is also charged with the murder and attempted murder of Irene Crooks, 79, of Leeds, at St James's Hospital in October 2002, and the attempted murder of Vera Wilby, 90, at the Infirmary.

Robert Smith QC told the jury that Ethel Hall was recovering after an operation to repair a fractured hip.

But Mr Norris told a colleague he thought "Ethel was going off that night", Mr Smith said.

Insulin injection

The barrister added: "Significantly, he said something quite extraordinary - he went on to predict the time of Ethel Hall's death.

He said Norris told the nurse: "It was always in the morning when things go wrong - about 0515."

"This prediction by Colin Norris proved to be entirely correct," Mr Smith said.

"She developed a catastrophic brain injury and coma from which she was never to recover."

The court heard when Mrs Hall was found slumped in her bed Mr Norris looked at his watch and said to a colleague "I told you so".

The nurse is accused of giving Ethel Hall a lethal dose of insulin

Mr Norris is accused of injecting Mrs Hall with a fatal dose of insulin. She was not diabetic.

Mr Smith said the injection could not have been given by mistake because no patient on the ward was diabetic and the amount administered was "far larger" than any normal insulin dose.

He told the jury: "Someone went to Mrs Hall's bed, while other patients were asleep, and injected her with a massive dose of insulin.

"That could only have been done by someone with nursing or medical experience and someone who had knowledge of what insulin could do to the body."

The trial, which is expected to last until February, continues.