Grantham family of victim of Beverley Allitt says killer nurse 'must never be set free'

The family of a victim of killer nurse Beverley Allitt say their daughter fears the nurse will come back to ‘get her’ if she is given parole.

Kayley Asher, now 31, was attacked by the former nurse at Grantham Hospital in 1991 and suffered brain damage.

Allitt was given 13 life sentences in 1993 for killing four babies and harming nine other children in her care.

The 52-year-old, who was brought up in Corby Glen, is being held at Rampton high security ­psychiatric hospital, but her minimum sentence tariff of 30 years expires in November and if she is deemed fit to transfer to a prison she will have the right to apply for parole.

Kayley’s dad Alan, 64, told the Journal: “We never want her to be released. A life sentence should mean life. She got 13 life sentences and that means she should never come out except in a box.”

Alan, a former Mayor of Grantham, said the family, who live in Grantham, fear that Allitt could be released and given another identity as in the case of the killers of young James Bulger. He said: “People don’t know who they are when they are walking the streets. If we were to ever find out Allitt has got parole we would be looking over our shoulders all the time.
We would have to protect Kayley.”

Kayley was 15 months old when Allitt tried to kill her by injecting a potentially fatal air bubble under the toddler’s arm.

Kayley suffered two heart attacks and permanent brain damage. She was later diagnosed with the rare condition Kabuki makeup syndrome, meaning she has problems with fine motor skills, mobility and hearing.

Alan said that whenever Allitt is mentioned in the press or on television it puts fear into Kayley. He said: “It comes to the point where she is looking through all the wardrobes and in the drawers whenever Allitt is mentioned. It puts us all on edge again.”

Alan says Allitt must remain in a psychiatric hospital or prison for the rest of her life. “Just because she has done her 30 years and ‘behaved herself’ she should not be released because there are parents out there whose children she killed and they have to live with that every day.

“I will only be satisfied if we know she will never get out. This has only brought the uncertainty out again.”

Allitt, who came to be known as ‘The Angel of Death’, injected her first victim, eight-month-old Liam Taylor, with a large dose of insulin before going on to kill three other children and injure nine in Ward 4 over a 59-day period.

Allitt pleaded not guilty at Nottingham Crown Court, but following a trial was convicted of four counts of murder, three attempted murders and causing grievous bodily harm. She was given 13 life sentences with a minimum of 30 years. She was sent to Rampton to be held there indefinitely.

Psychiatrists concluded Allitt was suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental illness which caused her to injure others in order to attract attention or sympathy.

A spokesman for the Parole Board told the Journal that Allitt’s case has not been referred to them.

But Allitt cannot be eligible for parole until she is assessed as being well enough for a move back to a mainstream prison. While she remains under section in hospital, she will not be assessed by the Parole Board.

If she is ever returned to prison, it is for the Secretary of State for Justice to refer the case to the board.