‘Dr Opiate’ Jane Barton could escape justice as vital evidence was ‘accidentally destroyed’ after 656 patient deaths
Dr Barton faces a new police probe but privately sources say there are fears that the investigation is already doomed to fail
A GP dubbed Dr Opiate who oversaw 656 patient deaths could escape justice because vital evidence was “accidentally destroyed”.
Dr Jane Barton, 69, faces a new police probe following an inquiry report last week into the scandal in Gosport, Hants, where patients were prescribed lethal opiates.
But privately sources say there are fears that the investigation is already doomed to fail.
Dr Barton was first investigated by police in 1998. Cops built up evidence over the next 12 years before the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case.
In a document filed to the independent inquiry it has now emerged a CPS unit binned some of the evidence.
In 2013, top prosecutor Hilary Reeve was asked to review part of the case.
In her report she revealed staff in the CPS Record Management Unit had “accidentally destroyed” large parts of the original file.
Ms Reeve admitted the blunder compromised her review.
It is not known if Hampshire Police held copies of the evidence. It is also not clear when the destruction took place.
But a source said: “Any mistake of this nature in a case of this magnitude will rightly be seized on.”
Bridget Reeves’s gran Elsie Devine died aged 88 at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital in 1999.
Bridget, 42, said of our revelations: “I am outraged. The CPS are clearly incompetent.”
Eric Cousins lost dad Arthur, 82. Eric said: “It is very convenient (destroying the evidence). It has just been a cover up all the way through.”
Dr Barton, who is said to be in Spain with her husband, has said she finds the police investigation into her “repugnant and deeply distressing”. She previously told police: “I’ve always been concerned to treat patients humanely and lawfully.”
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