Gosport War Memorial Hospital deaths: relative's nephew alleges corruption in Hampshire police

David Wilson, 74, pictured at Portsmouth Cathedral in Old Portsmouth on November 10 speaking about Gosport War Memorial Hospital. Picture: Sarah Standing (101120-9045)

One patient’s nephew has pored over documents pulling together hundreds of strands of information and presented allegations of corruption within Hampshire police 30 years ago when the hospital was first at the centre of a probe.

David Wilson, 74, has said Hampshire police had the chance in 1998 to prevent around 100 patients coming to harm but failed to do so.

It comes as the latest police investigation into the deaths of 700 patients at the Bury Road centre between 1987 and 2001 continues despite difficulties in Covid-19.

David Wilson, 74, and Charles Farthing, 81, pictured at Portsmouth Cathedral in Old Portsmouth on November 10 speaking about their relatives' deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital. Picture: Sarah Standing (101120-8231)

More than two years ago an independent panel led by former Bishop of Liverpool James Jones found a ‘disregard for human life’ at the hospital and a ‘culture of shortening lives,’ with dangerous doses of clinically unjustified opiates prescribed and administered.

Since then police in Kent and Essex launched Operation Magenta - the fourth criminal investigation into the deaths.

It follows three previously run by Hampshire Constabulary that ended with no criminal prosecution.

Police in Hampshire have since admitted its first and second investigations were botched and the third did not go wide enough.

‘Unlawful killing’

Mr Wilson, from Sarisbury Green, said police should have brought in health and safety officials immediately following being alerted to an ‘unlawful killing’ at the hospital in 1998.

That initial report to police was made by Gillian Mackenzie whose 91-year-old mother Gladys Richards died four days after being transferred to GWMH.

Mr Wilson, whose aunt Dulcie Middleton died aged 86 after being transferred from the hospital in 2001, said lives could have been saved if the Health and Safety Executive was brought in back in 1998.

Patients in hospital beds on the wards at the time suffered unnecessarily for a further three years, Mr Wilson said, due to this failure.

He said HSE involvement could have seen ‘steps to stop the unsafe working practices, or... they could have demanded that the hospital stop admitting further patients until there had been some resolution to what was going on’.

Reports not independent

In the first probe the Crown Prosecution Service asked police for an independent report on Mrs Richards’ care.

Instead one was provided via police from consultant geriatrician Dr Althea Lord, who supervised Dr Jane Barton.

As reported, Dr Barton was held responsible for the culture of pre-prescribing opioids for patients at GWMH using syringe drivers.

Dr Barton previously said she raised concerns about her workload in 1998.

Mr Wilson, who said he is in search of the truth, said: ‘Whilst they were investigating the death of Gladys Richards who passed away on August 21, 1998, there were actually individuals in that hospital, at that precise moment in time.

‘And those individuals, their lives would have been saved, if the police had carried out the procedures that were available, known to them, and more importantly hadn’t been obstructed by the manner that the Gosport CID set about putting before the CPS, which totally ignored the truth of what was happening.’

Mr Wilson has alleged corruption in Hampshire police, providing it with several A4 lever-arch folders of evidence. He was referred to the force by Op Magenta officers who said they could not investigate the corruption allegation.

Police looked at ‘number of files’

Hampshire police told The News it has ‘reviewed a number of files of paperwork that (Mr Wilson) has provided for evidence of corruption’.

A detective inspector in the force’s anti-corruption unit this year told him he ‘did not find that there was any indication that criminal conduct had taken place’.

Chief constable Olivia Pinkney recused her force from dealing with any further GWMH investigation in 2018 following the Gosport Independent Panel report.

Yesterday the force told The News its anti-corruption unit was involved as Mr Wilson’s case ‘specifically related to an allegation of corruption in Hampshire’ and therefore ‘it was referred to us in line with correct procedure’.

Mr Wilson, from Sarisbury Green, has told the force he will seek a judicial review after first being told he was not eligible to complain about the anti-corruption unit inspector’s findings.

The force said it is now considering a second complaint.

‘I am happy for nursing staff to confirm death’

Portsmouth man Charles Farthing, 81, is backing Mr Wilson’s action.

Charles’s step-father Brian Cunningham died on September 26, 1998, having been admitted to the hospital with a pressure ulcer on September 21.

Consultant geriatrician Dr Lord, the panel report said, noted ‘prognosis poor’ in his records after he was admitted, and prescribed oral morphine solution.

The nursing home where he lived had been asked to keep his bed open for two to three weeks ahead of a return.

Clinical assistant Dr Barton wrote in the notes: ‘Transfer to Dryad Ward. Make comfortable. Give adequate analgesia. I am happy for nursing staff to confirm death.’

Dr Barton prescribed wide-ranging dosages of diamorphine, midazolam, and hyoscine via syringe driver - later telling police in 2005 she did so on a ‘proactive basis’ in an attempt to alleviate his ‘significant pain, distress and agitation’.

No record of police complaint

Mr Farthing, now 81, went to the police in October 1998. The independent panel reported it had ‘seen no police documents’ relating to the complaint, nor any paperwork that ‘indicates that any investigation’ took place then.

Mr Farthing visited his stepfather in the ward, finding him ‘flat out’ and ‘totally comatosed’ unable to speak.

‘One of the nurses soon after came in,’ he added, ‘I noticed a tube to something under the pillow and I took the opportunity to take a look.’

He saw a syringe driver used to deliver the diamorphine and asked for it to be removed, saying he knew his stepfather was being ‘executed’.

Detailing his view of the ward, he added: ‘As you went along the passageway they were all a funny colour, all comatosed, at different stages of dying. There’s no doubt about that in my mind.’

Mr Farthing said: ‘Hampshire police have a lot to answer for if what David (Wilson) has been saying is true.’

Mr Wilson praised Gladys Richards’ daughter Gillian Mackenzie for her tenacity in raising the first known police complaint.

‘Considerable dialogue’

A Hampshire police spokeswoman said: ‘We have met with Mr Wilson three times since June 2020 and engaged in considerable dialogue with him.

‘We take what he is alleging himself and on behalf of others very seriously and have reviewed a number of files of paperwork that he has provided for evidence of corruption in line with his allegation.

‘Mr Wilson has subsequently made a complaint in this respect that unfortunately was not compliant with the regulation that we have to work to.

‘We took the time to explain this to Mr Wilson and he has subsequently submitted a different complaint, which has been recorded and is subject to ongoing consideration.’

Families can contact David Wilson on [email protected] for information about the judicial review.