That was some Panorama programme last night about Scottish “serial killer” nurse Colin Norris. It was a real eye-opener. It seems that police made up their mind he was a murderer of five elderly women based solely on hospital ward banter of the type which is heard in every hospital – and probably every day. 
They went looking for evidence to fit their suspicions and just didn’t look for other explanations. Those other possible explanations, including one advanced by Dr Adel Ismail, a former clinical biochemist, who told the trial a rare condition called insulin autoimmune syndrome (IAS) could have caused the blood-test result, was just ignored. Now advances in medical science have shown that the condition is not rare at all and that it is unlikely any insulin was injected into any of the women.
So Colin Norris was flung into jail for murders that simply didn’t happen. Our justice system failed. I wonder if trial evidence by any other learned professors has been ignored in favour of preconceptions resulting in any other miscarriages of justice?
Very worrying, Colin Norris sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for a crime that never was? Lead police investigator also worked on the Harold Shipman (Dr) murder cases (15 patients injected lethal doses of diamorphine). I got the impression from this BBC screening about the Colin Norris conviction that more recent evidence from learned professors and others, confirms that this is a miscarriage of justice, and that four elderly patients died from natural causes, not massive insulin injections. One of the jurors at the original trial also agrees. What is more worrying is a police/CPS investigation which “cherry picked” evidence to suit this prosecution, and disregarded evidence which didn’t. Colin Norris has already served 7 years behind bars, and the Scottish Criminal Case Review C’ttee, looking at this new evidence, have been doing so for no less than 3 years. The wheels of justice grind exceedingly slowly. The sooner this case gets back to a formal judicial appeal hearing the better. Other convictions, and possible miscarriages of justice, as Iain says, may also be guilty of bias and prejudice in consideration of the selection of evidence by the prosecution, and lacking in objectivity, and corroboration. The BBC has a full-time job on its hands, and the team involved in this particular investigation are to be congratulated for bringing their findings to the attention of a wider audience.