Gosport Memorial Hospital: Three further suspects to be questioned over deaths at Gosport hospital

Investigations are continuing after hundreds of patients at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital died after being given opiates inappropriately between 1987 and 2001.

Three further suspects are to be questioned under caution in relation to the deaths of hundreds of patients at scandal-hit Gosport War Memorial Hospital.

The force previously said that 19 suspects had been identified to be interviewed for alleged health and safety offences but this number had now risen to 22.

Deputy Chief Constable Neil Jerome of Operation Magenta said: "The independent investigation into deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital is one of the largest and most complex of its nature in the history of UK policing. Our team consists of serving and retired detectives who have so far assessed more than three million pages of documents including the medical records of over 750 patients, and taken witness statements from more than 1,150 individual family members.

"The families have since been updated that among the suspects identified by Operation Magenta are a number who are due to be interviewed under caution in relation to alleged health and safety offences.

“The families of those who died at the hospital were informed at the start of the investigation that the full range of criminal offences would be considered, including homicide and any that may have been committed under the Health and Safety at Work Act. The families have since been updated that among the suspects identified by Operation Magenta are a number who are due to be interviewed under caution in relation to alleged health and safety offences.”

The death of Gladys Richard, a ‘frail 91-year-old’ who went into the hospital for rehab following a hip operation, was the start of ‘one of the largest and most complex’ investigations ‘of its nature in the history of UK policing’.

Gladys Richard’s family raised concerns that they believed she had been unlawfully killed through the administration of medicine, which sparked one of the biggest hospital scandals in the country.

SEE ALSO: Fresh inquests will take place for three patients who died at the hospital

Over the next few years, more and more families began stepping forward after a loved one had died whilst in the care of the hospital. There have since been numerous police and health investigations, reviews and inquiries – including a General Medical Council inquiry and multiple inquests into deaths at the hospital.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary initially led the investigation but Kent Police took over and they have confirmed that a number of suspects are being ‘interviewed under caution’.

A review of the deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital between 1987 and 2001 was published on the government website in 2003 and it found that ‘the proportion of patients at Gosport who did receive opiates before death is remarkably high’.

It also said that it ‘is difficult to accept that the practice of almost routine use of opiates before death, dating from 1988 or earlier, merely represents clinical practice in advance of practice elsewhere’.Neil Jerome added: “The investigation is ongoing and continues to make good progress. Whilst we have never provided anyone with an estimate of how long our enquiries will last, family members and the general public can be confident we are working as quickly and thoroughly as possible to ensure Operation Magenta is the decisive police investigation into what happened at Gosport.”

The investigation has been ongoing for years and the police are still working on the ‘complex’ case that has affected multiple families across the country who lost a family member at the hospital.