Imelda Distura, 34, a trainee nurse leaving the site this afternoon, said: "Somebody found her in the smoking area. We are all frightened. Everybody is upset. We are asking for more security."
Nurse stabbed to death in hospital garden
April 06, 2006
Jenny Booth
A nurse has been stabbed to death in the grounds of an Essex hospital today.
Detectives launched a murder inquiry after the body of the victim, a white woman in her 30s, was found by members of staff in a garden behind St George's Hospital in Suttons Lane, Hornchurch at 11am today. She had suffered multiple stab wounds.
An ambulance attended - the hospital does not have an accident and emergency department - but the nurse was pronounced dead at the scene. Nobody has been arrested.
The hospital, run by Havering Primary Care Trust, provides mainly community services for children, adults and the elderly. The North East London Mental Health Trust also runs clinics at the hospital, which has been threatened with closure for some months.
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "Police were called at 11.09am today to reports of a female suffering stab wounds. The victim has yet to be formally identified. Next of kin have not yet been informed."
The investigation will be handled by the Yard's Specialist Crime Directorate. Patients and staff at the hospital were being questioned today, and people were being allowed off the site but not back on to it.
The stabbing is believed to have taken place when the nurse was taking a break. Police sent a helicopter to take pictures of the area and to search for suspects.
Imelda Distura, 34, a trainee nurse leaving the site this afternoon, said: "Somebody found her in the smoking area. We are all frightened. Everybody is upset. We are asking for more security."
The sprawling hospital is set in grassy surroundings near a quiet residential area. It is unclear whether the victim was stabbed on hospital grounds, or in an area outside of its perimeter.
A member of staff who said she had known the victim for 10 years said she was "very upset". She added: "She was probably not allowed to smoke in the hospital so it is likely she was outside on a break."
The attack is not suspected to have been carried out by a patient, although it is not known whether the nurse was randomly or deliberately targeted.
Janet Davies, director of service delivery at the Royal College of Nursing, said: "This is a shocking and tragic event and the RCN would like to express its deepest sympathy for the family of the nurse. Healthcare staff should not have to go to work fearing for their lives and personal safety."
The RCN said its own research showed that nearly four in 10 nurses had been harassed or assaulted by patients or their relatives in the last 12 months. This figure rises to 79 per cent of nurses working in accident and emergency departments.
Karen Jennings, Unison's Head of Health, said: "This is extremely sad and shocking news. It is tragic that yet again a nurse has died while carrying out her work caring for the sick and injured.
"It is less than two years since a healthcare assistant was stabbed to death at South West London and St George's Mental Health Trust and there have been other violent incidents involving knives since then.
"The level of violence that nurses and other health workers face is simply unacceptable and we will be demanding a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding this terrible event."
"I''m shocked and appalled by this tragic incident," said James Brokenshire, the Conservative MP for Hornchurch who has been supporting the campaign to save the hospital from closure. "My thoughts are with the victim''s family at this time."
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