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12. Ward Four: Can you spot Munchausen by Proxy?

A hospital short of staff hired nurse Beverley Allitt but when children started to collapse unexpectedly and four of them died, police investigated both parents and staff.

Hospitals are places of safety, where staff help people to get better. So the parents of four children left in the care of Beverley Allitt never imagined that she’d harm them. The 22 year old nurse was convicted of their murders and harming 9 others on Ward Four at the Grantham and Kesteven hospital in Lincolnshire in 1991.

Police worked out that Allitt was the only person present for all of the unexplained collapses and that she had reported the key to the insulin fridge missing.

Childhood friends and nurses she trained with later told of her self-harm and bizarre behaviour including finding faeces in the fridge.
In this episode of Bad People, presenters Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss the self-harming seen in Munchausen Syndrome - and how it can develop into Munchausen by Proxy - where a caregiver induces or fabricates a child’s illness. They ask: could Allitt have been stopped earlier?

Warning: This episode contains strong language and references to violence against children.

Archive credits: This episode contains audio from Real Stories, Sky, ITV.

Presenters: Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen
Producer: Paula McGrath
Assistant Producer: Simona Rata
Music: Matt Chandler
Series Editor: Rami Tzabar

Commissioning Producer: Hannah Rose
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

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