Trust under manslaughter investigation over four deaths

An ongoing potential corporate manslaughter investigation is looking into the deaths of four patients, a court has heard today.

Police have been investigating allegations of neglect and mistreatment of patients on the stroke unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital since 2018.

Since then, two staff members have been jailed for poisoning patients, and a murder inquiry launched into the death of patient Valerie Kneale after a violent sexual assault.

The investigation, known as Operation Bermuda, was also expanded to cover potential gross negligence or corporate manslaughter charges in 2023.

In an update to Blackpool and Fylde coroner’s court, the patients were named as 86-year-old Margaret Mary Hamilton and Geoffrey Duckworth, 81-year-old Peter Whittaker, and 75-year-old Joan Walker.

Detective chief inspector Mark Dickinson also told the court that the Care Quality Commission had investigated the deaths of the four patients but decided not to prosecute the trust.

DCI Dickinson said Operation Bermuda was originally launched to investigate allegations that patients on the stroke ward were being sedated with the drug Zopiclone without any clinical need.

DCI Dickinson said: “The investigation also identified other patients believed to have received poor care. Likewise, in the case of four patients, potential causal links were identified between the care they received and their death.”

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Source: HSJ, 9 October 2026