Lawyers for Banbury nurse Benjamin Geen raise new evidence

Benjamin Geen was 25 when in 2006 an Oxford judge ordered he serve at least 30 years behind bars after he was found guilty of killing two of his patients and poisoning 15 others at the Horton Hospital.

Prosecutors claimed he had injected his patients with drugs that stopped them breathing so he could then resuscitate them. He was branded a ‘maniac’ who saw his patients as ‘bits of flesh he used to satisfy his lust for excitement’.

The former Territorial Army officer lost an argument at the Court of Appeal in 2009 that his convictions were unsafe.

In 2013 and 2015 the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates potential miscarriages of justice and has the power to refer matters back to the Appeal court, declined to refer the case.

Now, lawyers acting for Geen say they have fresh evidence that undermines the safety of his 2006 convictions.

An analysis of data relating to patients in the US who had similar characteristics to those involved in Geen’s case is said to indicate there was nothing out of the ordinary about how many patients went into respiratory arrest on the nurse’s ward.

The resus room at Horton Hospital Picture: TVP (Image: Thames Valley Police)

Forensic epidemiologist Dr Michael Freeman told The Guardian: “There is incontrovertible and highly reliable epidemiological evidence that multiple patients with respiratory arrest would have been expected amongst Mr Geen’s charges during the 42-day period at issue.”

The former nurse’s barrister Mark McDonald said he would be referring the case back to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

“The prosecution says there’s a pattern: that he is on duty every time someone gets sick and that respiratory arrest is rare. They have said: ‘You have never proven it is not rare’. Now we have a report saying that it is not rare,” he told The Guardian.

A CCRC spokesman said: “Anybody who has failed in a direct appeal to the courts for a conviction or sentence they feel is unjust can apply for a CCRC review of their case.

“If there is new evidence or argument to be considered, we can open a new review to investigate whether it creates a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would overturn the conviction or sentence.”

A syringe was found in Geen's fleece Picture: TVP (Image: Thames Valley Police)

In 2009, Appeal court judge Lady Justice Hallett said the evidence was 'over-whelming' that Geen wanted 'the thrill' of causing patients to collapse, before playing the role of saviour in reviving them.

The following year in 2010, after the nurse lost his Court of Appeal fight, Geen's family described him as the victim of an ‘NHS witch-hunt’.

Sister Hayley said: “We won’t stop until we get justice for Ben.

“They said in court that Ben was a thrill-seeker. In reality, he’s nothing like that.”

She added: “Everyone who goes into jobs like that does it for the excitement of being able to help – soldiers, firefighters.”

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