Sick WhatsApps between nurses who sedated victims to 'keep them quiet' exposed

14 December 2023 , 17:42

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Charlotte Wilmot and Catherine Hudson

Sick messages shared between two care workers who sedated stroke patients at a hospital in Blackpool showed them joking about killing them as one claimed she was "p***ing myself laughing".

Catherine Hudson was jailed for seven years this week for unlawfully drugging two patients. Preston Crown Court heard the nurse plotted with her junior colleague, Charlotte Wilmot, to give a sedative to a third patient at Blackpool Victoria Hospital's stroke unit.

WhatsApp messages shared between the two were shown during their trial, revealing a "culture of abuse" among them and other staff members. One of the messages showed Hudson, 54, writing, "going to kill bed 5 xxx" as her co-defendant replied, "Pmsl [p***ing myself laughing]... well tonight sedate him to high heaven lol xxx".

Charlotte Wilmot, 48 (Lancashire Constabulary / SWNS)

Catherine Hudson, 54 (Lancashire Constabulary / SWNS)

Another private message from Hudson wrote: "Already in my head to give him double !!" adding that the "bed 5" patient would be "getting sedated to hell" if he "starts". The two both claimed the messages had simply been "banter" at the time and were nothing more than black humour to endure what they described as a chronically-understaffed ward.

Hudson drugged the patients for an "easy life" during the shifts between February 2017 and November 2018, the court heard during the trial. Wilmot, 48, was convicted of administering a sedative to a third patient and sentenced to three years in jail on Thursday.

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Hudson was cleared of ill-treating two other patients. Her partner, Marek Grabienowski, a band 7 nurse who at one stage ran the hospital’s A&E department, was sentenced for two counts of conspiracy to steal drugs from his employer, and perverting the course of justice. He was jailed for 14 months.

Transcript of the pair's conversation which saw them sending one another 'crying laughter' emojis as they joked about giving patients sedatives (Lancashire Constabulary / SWNS)

Police were alerted by hospital chiefs in November 2018 after a student nurse on a work placement blew the whistle, claiming Hudson gave unprescribed zopiclone, a sleeping pill, to elderly patient Aileen Scott, with the defendant justifying her actions as Ms Scott had a DNR in place at the time. Zopiclone - a Class C controlled drug - was potentially life-threatening if given inappropriately to acutely unwell patients.

Judge Robert Altham, Honorary Recorder of Preston, said in sentencing that the patients "were as vulnerable as anyone could be", and were "exploited" by the defendants "for an easy shift, for amusement and to exercise contemptuous power over them".

Mrs Scott's son, Brian, told the court on Wednesday that the "bravery" of the whistleblower had "most likely saved my mum's life". "To this day my mum is fearful about going into hospital," he told the court. Why? Because of the treatment she had received by Catherine Hudson and others at Blackpool. This will haunt us for the rest of our lives."

Susie Beever