'It was absolutely horrendous': Nurse cleared of saline drip poisoning of up to 30 patients tells of ordeal

A nurse accused of tampering with saline solution at a hospital spoke today of her horror at being branded an 'angel of death' and 'killer nurse' by newspapers.

Rebecca Leighton, 27, was accused of hospital poisonings that resulted in the deaths of three patients at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester in July.

She today said she was 'passionate' about her job and wanted to return to a 'normal life' after charges against her were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) earlier this month.

Nightmare: Rebecca Leighton said she 'expected to be home by teatime' when she was arrested

She told ITV1’s This Morning of her disbelief when she was arrested by police in the early hours of July 20 at her home in Heaviley, Stockport.

'It was horrendous, absolutely horrendous. Obviously I was asleep, in bed, I was meant to be at work the next day and I woke up to the police banging on the door,' she said.

The nurse says she initially thought police just wanted to ask extra questions, and had no idea that they were about to arrest her.

In her first interview after being charged in July with contaminating saline solution at Stepping Hill Hospital, she recalled how she she tried to hold on to a glimmer of hope that people would realise she was not behind the contamination.

Opening up: The nurse says the accusations were horrendous

'Even when they arrested me, I thought I would be home for teatime because surely they know I have done nothing wrong,' she said.

Police believe there may have been another 30 potential victims of contamination who survived.

Miss Leighton spent more than six weeks in custody but was dramatically freed on September 2 after proceedings against her were discontinued.

Last week she was cleared to return to work by the Nursing and Midwifery Council subject to conditions, despite admitting to the theft of opiate-based drugs.

But she remains suspended on full pay by Stepping Hill while inquiries continue into allegations that she stole medication.

Mysterious: Police are still investigating the tampered saline solutions after three patients died

She said she was offered the chance to appoint a solicitor at the police station on her arrest but refused to do so initially as she had nothing to hide.

She said she could barely speak as she was so overwhelmed by what was happening.

Miss Leighton said she had 'pleaded' with the police after her arrest not to stop looking for the real culprit in the investigation.

'I pleaded with the police, every day, all the time - "Just don't stop looking, don't stop with me because if you do then surely the person that has done these horrific things is still going to be out there",' she said.

Targeted: Rebecca Leighton says she was only being a normal girl having fun but was still committed as a nurse

She said she believed the media were responsible for public hostility towards her, resulting in Mr Justice Henriques refusing her bail at Manchester Crown Court on August 5 for her own protection.

She said the media's portrayal of her meant people formed an inaccurate opinion of her, and defended her portrayal in pictures posted on her Facebook page, saying she was 'just being any normal girl' who was committed to her job as a nurse.

'I was just being any normal girl, I was just out with my friends having a good time,' she said.

'Everybody I know does that, I have not done anything different than anybody else would, a 27-year-old girl who goes out with her friends.'

She said reports made it appear as if her social life interfered with her work and her role as a nurse meant she turned down invites to nights out because she chose to concentrate on her work.

THE INTERVIEW

The This Morning interview:

Holly Willoughby: 'Why did you want to become a nurse in the first place?'

Rebecca Leighton: 'It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do because I’m such a caring person. My mum’s a nurse as well. I’ve never wanted to do anything else.'

Philip Schofield, talking about her arrest: 'You refused the right to a solicitor, didn’t you?'

RL: 'Yeah. I went to the police station, they read you your rights and ask whether I wanted a solicitor. But because I had nothing to hide I didn’t, you know, see why I would need a solicitor and it was actually the police woman that arrested me said, Becky listen - what have you been arrested for? Think about it. Have one, basically, telling me to get a solicitor, I’m going to need one.'

PS: 'Your mind must have been in turmoil at the time?'

RL: 'Well yeah, I just couldn’t make sense. I couldn’t string a sentence together, I just couldn’t understand what was going on, why, why it was me that was arrested. Just any of it, none of it made sense to me. I was just basically doing as I was told, following that through.'

PS, talking about her Facebook photos which showed her out drinking and partying,: 'But it’s an opinion partly built up from pictures taken from your Facebook page. Explain those pictures, what was happening around that time?'

RL: 'I was just being any normal girl, out with my friends having a good time. Everybody I know does that. I’ve not done anything different than anybody else would to, you know, a 27 year old that goes out with her friends. I have got a big group of friends. The media portrayed it to be that work got in the way of my social life. If you ask any of my friends, my friends will tell you that I never used to go out half as much they wanted me to because I had a choice of working and I ended up working. Because that’s what I loved and I enjoyed doing that. But they portrayed it to be the other way round.' 

She said she had been released and left to try to resume her life in spite of being unable to walk down the street on her own.

'It's hard to even say about a having a normal life because even now my life is not normal,' she said.

'I am living at my parents', I am not living where I was living. I'm not working, I can't go outside my house without people taking pictures of me.

'I can't walk down the street on my own because I'm a bit scared. Someone has always got to be with me all the time.

'It's far from normal.

'Nursing it all I have ever done. I am so passionate about my job and looking after patients, that's what I do. That's what I have worked so hard for.

'All this attention has been totally out of my control and I have been left now to try and sort everything out myself.'

Asked if there was anything she would change, she said: 'My name being released so early and the media publishing my name, my picture, before I was even charged. The public had a massive opinion on what the media had been portraying.

'I would have been safer if that was never done.'

Miss Leighton said she hoped her ordeal had made her a stronger person and that she tried to turn the negative aspects into positive ones. 

'If anything, I would like to think that I am a stronger person and learn to appreciate life more than maybe I did before,' she said.

Miss Leighton said she was unable to comment on her admission, heard by the Nursing and Midwifery Council last week, of stealing drugs including an antibiotic named flucloxacillin, a box of ibuprofen and some tramadol tablets from Stepping Hill Hospital.

These were found by police searching her home.

Detectives are still investigating allegations of tampering with saline solution at the hospital and are looking at the suspicious deaths of Tracey Arden, 44, Arnold Lancaster, 71, and Alfred Derek Weaver, 83.

All three died amid fears that saline solution had been contaminated with insulin.