'Rogue' nurse's village life

Neighbours described Barbara Salisbury as a caring woman

The quiet north Wales village of Pontybodkyn had been home to Barbara Salisbury for over a year.

The 47-year-old disgraced nurse moved there after being suspended from her job at Leighton Hospital, in Crewe - a short drive over the border with England.

It was there that the ruthless ward sister tried to murder pensioners May Taylor, 88, and Frank Owen, 92, in order to free up hospital beds.

The Salisbury's home is a modern detached house situated on a new development on the edge of the village, where neighbours - who refused to be interviewed - described her as a caring woman who kept herself to herself.

No one in the village, it seems, knew anything about the mother-of-two.

Born in Liverpool in 1956, Salisbury worked as a nurse for most of her working life beginning her training aged 19 back in 1975 while serving with the RAF.

The nurse is believed to have moved to Wales from Crewe

She went on to become a state-enrolled nurse and registered general nurse specialising in intensive care later getting work at Crewe's Leighton Hospital in January 1993 where she was employed as an E-grade staff nurse.

It was five years later that she was to assume overall control of the ward when the senior sister was moved to another part of the hospital.

"Barbara Salisbury was judged to be a competent nurse, but she betrayed her patients," said Simon Yates, Chief Executive of the Mid Cheshire Hospital NHS Trust. Another colleague Director of Nursing Barbara Pennington called her a "rogue nurse".

We do not accept this verdict. We know her to be innocent of any crime Salisbury's husband Derek

For, during her eight-week trial at Chester Crown Court, accounts of her behaviour emerged from a number of witnesses who recalled her "ruthless" methods.

The court heard that she also made a habit of laying extremely ill patients flat on their backs despite the clear risk of them drowning in their own lung secretions.

One former colleague, nurse Jane Booth recalled seeing Salisbury pressing a patient's diamorphine booster button.

'Space Invaders'

She told how the sound of her frequently administering extra doses of diamorphine to patients reminded her of someone playing 'Space Invaders'.

As Salisbury begins her prison sentence, her husband Derek will return to the family home in Pontybodkyn convinced of her innocence.

Speaking on his behalf outside court, the family's solicitor said: "My wife is a devoted nurse who has dedicated herself to the care of the sick.

She's always put the interests of patients first. We do not accept this verdict. We know her to be innocent of any crime. Our love and hopes are with her."