Manslaughter probe over four stroke patients who died at scandal-hit unit where 'evil' nurses were jailed after drugging victims for an 'easy life'

Police are considering bringing manslaughter charges over the deaths of four patients on a scandal-hit stroke ward, a coroner was told today. In 2023, a nurse and a healthcare worker at Blackpool Victoria Hospital were jailed for ill-treating stroke patients, sedating them for an ‘easy shift’ and their own ‘amusement’.Catherine Hudson, 54, and Charlotte Wilmot, 48, were jailed for seven years and two months and three years respectively.Separately, police have been examining the 'unexplained' deaths of patients following treatment on the stroke unit. Today the senior detective in charge of the case told a coroner that officers had identified four cases where patients’ treatment could have led to their deaths.They are considering whether to charge individual staff with gross negligence manslaughter or whether to charge the hospital with corporate manslaughter.Another six deaths are also being investigated over whether patients were subjected to ill-treatment or wilful neglect before they died.Investigators say there is no ‘causal link’ to suggest any ill-treatment led directly to the deaths of the six patients. Blackpool Victoria Hospital has been embroiled in multiple scandals in recent years Retired clerical assistant Valerie Kneale, 75, died at Blackpool Victoria Hospital on November 16 2018, four days after she was admitted following a stroke at her home in Poulton-le-Fylde, LancashireAll of the cases relate to concerns over the treatment of patients between 2015 and 2018.Hudson and Wilmot were among a staggering six medical staff at England's bottom-ranked hospital sent to prison for serious criminal offences in a two-year period.In 2025, a Daily Mail investigation into the string of controversies found some locals were frightened to be treated at what was branded ‘the hospital that shames Britain’.The failings – which included allegations of bullying and racial discrimination – were so bad that then health secretary Wes Streeting branded them ‘abhorrent’.Earlier this year it emerged that staff had failed to flag concerns about 13-month-old Preston Davey despite his ‘evil’ adoptive fathers taking him to A&E three times in the weeks before his murder.Police began investigating the stroke unit in November 2018 after a student nurse on a work placement raised concerns about staff giving unprescribed sleeping tablets to patients. Horrifyingly, detectives uncovered that one patient, 75-year-old Valerie Kneale, had died after being subjected to a violent sexual assault on the ward.A post-mortem examination concluded that her death on November 16, 2018 resulted from a 'forcible sexual assault' following her admission to hospital. Senior nurse Catherine Hudson, 54, left, and her junior colleague Charlotte Wilmot, 48, dispensed the sedative Zopiclone like sweets to keep patients ‘quiet and compliant or ‘out of spite’ or simply ‘for their own amusement’Despite a Crimewatch appeal and a £20,000 reward for information, a separate murder investigation has not led to anyone being charged over her death.Last year a coroner ruled that the 'wonderful' grandmother was unlawfully killed after hearing how the failure of medical staff to raise concerns meant potentially crucial evidence was no longer available by the time police began investigating.In a separate and unrelated case, in 2023 'dangerous and callous' healthcare workers Hudson and Wilmot were convicted of ill-treating patients.The pair – branded 'pure evil' by the son of one victim – targeted patients if they disliked them or their relatives, drugging them for 'an easy life', Preston Crown Court heard.Afterwards the Daily Mail revealed how in addition to Mrs Kneale, the 'unexplained' deaths of at least eight other patients treated on the ward were being probed by the local coroner.Meanwhile in 2025 Lancashire Police confirmed they had been investigating the hospital for potential corporate failings contributing to the death, ill-treatment or neglect of patients. Today senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Mark Dickinson told a hearing at Blackpool coroner's court that officers were 'trying to find out exactly what happened to each patient and why'.'If we identify that a crime has been committed by an individual or an organisation then those people responsible will be brought to justice,' he added.He said 26 officers and staff are working on the case with support from the National Crime Agency and specialist prosecutors.The patients whose deaths are being examined over potential manslaughter charges are Margaret Hamilton, 86, Geoffrey Duckworth, 86, Peter Whittaker, 81, and Joan Walker, 75.In addition, police are trying to establish whether Doreen O’Connor, 85, Norman Littlewood, 72, David Philpott, 84, Joseph McCabe, 79 and Ronald Humphrys, 90, were ill-treated before their deaths.They have also identified a tenth patient who may also have been ill-treated.Senior coroner Alan Wilson said that while he had no criticism of how long the investigation was taking, he was 'concerned' that the delay could affect the 'recollection' of witnesses when inquests are finally held. 'We are eight years down the line,' he added.In the past four months, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – which runs the Vic, as it is known to locals – has slipped from 111th to 134th in the latest NHS performance league table of England's 134 acute trusts. Insiders stress that it serves some of England’s most troubled communities, with seven of the most deprived neighbourhoods and the highest rate of drug-related deaths.A spokesman for the trust has previously insisted that the hospital is a 'safe and caring environment'.In a statement today it said: 'The trust continues to cooperate with the police investigation and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this point.'