30 years for crimes that never happened? |
Benjamin Geen, 29, was jailed in 2006 for 30 years for murdering two patients and seriously harming 15 others but these crimes never happened, according to fresh expert evidence. The prosecution alleged that he injected patients with drugs that stopped their breathing in order to satisfy a 'lust for excitement' when they were revived. Geen claims to be the victim of a witch hunt following adverse publicity in the case of Harold Shipman. He was suspected following a spate of respiratory arrests. The prosecution claimed there was a 'pattern' of cases indicating there must be 'a maniac on the loose'. But a new report by Professor Jane Hutton, a leading medical statistician, found that 'the evidence given... was of no value in supporting a conclusion that there was an unusual pattern, nor a conclusion that any unusual pattern was not a chance event.' Barrister Mark McDonald argues the case was all based on a medical theory which would be undermined by fresh evidence. Dr Mark Heath, professor of clinical anaesthesiology at Columbia University, found that 'In none of the charts I reviewed does it appear to me the administration of a muscle relaxant is a likely cause.' Dr Heath gave evidence about executions by lethal injection in the American penal system to the US Supreme Court. 'There's a climate that adverse events have got to be explained,' commented Michael Powers QC. In December 2009 the appeal court upheld the conviction of a nurse found guilty of murdering four patients with insulin injections, but, importantly, ruled that an unusual pattern of illnesses was, unsupported by other evidence, evidentially worthless. The fresh evidence is being sent to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in support of Geen's application for a second appeal. see also Banbury Guardian, 1 May 2008 Nurse guilty of killing patients
 18 April 2006
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28 February 2010