Care worker admits attempting to murder three colleagues
A care worker has admitted trying to murder three colleagues at a home for the elderly.
Melissa Swift pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court today to three counts of attempted murder following an incident at Goldfield Court care home in West Bromwich last year.
The 23-year-old, of Hambletts Road, West Bromwich, was arrested on August 4, after a number of people developed food poisoning-type symptoms.
Swift, appearing in the dock of the court, admitted three counts of attempted murder between July 30 and August 4 last year.
Wearing a pink and black smock dress and dark top, she also pleaded guilty to two charges of making threats to kill – including one against her older sister, Lulla Swift, between June and July last year.
Adrian Keeling, prosecuting, said: “It’s the case she intended to poison three of her colleagues at Goldfield Court, and made threats to kill on two other individuals.”
Sentencing was adjourned by Judge Philip Parker QC until April 17 for reports.
Speaking outside the court, Detective Chief Inspector Michaela Kerr from West Midlands Police revealed that 32 people were affected by a “bleach-type oxidant” that had been administered in drinking vessels in the care home.
Of the 32, 25 were residents and seven were staff. The three attempted murder charges that Swift admitted related to workers at Goldfield Court.
Ms Kerr also said that Swift sent anonymous letters, including to her sister Lulla, making threats to kill.
Describing Swift’s offending against “vulnerable people in a care home setting” as “heinous and concerning”, Ms Kerr said it was not known what her motive had been.
She said: “One of the victims suffered stroke-like symptoms and was admitted into hospital during the period under investigation. Fortunately she has made a full recovery.
“Other victims exhibited a range of symptoms similar to food poisoning-type symptoms.”
She continued: “We do know that the poisons were administered into drinks that everybody in that care home had access to.”
Ms Kerr added that Swift, who resigned as a special constable last July, “deceived her colleagues and hatched a plan to cause ill to those she worked with as a result of some malice, for which we have never truly discovered the cause”.
She continued: “She not only thought out a way of poisoning her workmates but also followed the plan through and administered bleach to their drinks, leaving them in the usual staff fridge where she knew they would go.
“The plan was dangerous, reckless and hugely alarming. There is nothing to have stopped anyone from consuming the drinks she tampered with and, given the nature of her profession and workplace as a care provider, she went against everything her dedicated colleagues worked for.
“Thankfully, no one was seriously injured as a result of what she did, but the story could so easily have been different.”
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