Nurse jailed for at least 35 years for UK patient murders

LONDON (Reuters) - A nurse was told he would spend at least 35 years in jail on Tuesday after being convicted of murdering two patients and poisoning some 20 others at a hospital in northern England. Victorino Chua, 49, who said he had a "devil" inside him, injected insulin into saline bags which were then administered to patients on the acute treatment wards where he worked at Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in July 2011. Two of the patients, Tracy Arden 44, and Derek Weaver, 83, died and another suffered a serious brain injury. After security at the hospital was tightened, he later altered patients' medical notes to increase their dosage of drugs. "It is a striking, sinister and truly wicked feature of the case that he did not personally administer contaminated products directly to most of these the patients," said Justice Peter Openshaw at Manchester Crown Court. "Thus, nearly all the victims were chosen at random; it is as if he left it to fate to decide who would be the victim." Openshaw sentenced the nurse, who was convicted on Monday of 33 counts including murder, administering a poison, and causing grievous bodily harm, to five life jail terms and told him he would serve at least 35 years before being considered for parole. Chua, 49, who came to Britain from his native Philippines in 2002 and later gained British citizenship, wrote a letter to himself which he described as "the bitter nurse confession". "I go straight to hell, no question," he wrote in the letter police found after his arrest. "I'm a nice person but there (is) a devil in me ... I'm evil at the same time angel. Got lots to tell but I just take it to my grave." (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)