AN INVESTIGATION into a doctor following the death of a patient in his care at Leighton Hospital was dropped yesterday afternoon (Tuesday).
The medic was reported to the Crown Prosecution Service following a 12-month police probe into serious misconduct at the Crewe hospital during the 1990s.
A file had been passed to the CPS following an investigation carried out by detectives from Crewe.
Lawyers have decided the doctor, who has not been named, will not be charged.
CPS spokesman John Spencer said: 'A decision was taken that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a charge of gross negligence manslaughter. We couldn't realistically prove the doctor was intending to kill the patient and the toxicology evidence was inconclusive as to whether the injection caused the patient to die.
'In essence, this was a patient that was terminally ill and we were unable to prove the injection was the cause of his death. This was a difficult and complex case and the CPS has decided that there is insufficient evidence to bring about a prosecution or conviction. Our thoughts are now with the family of the patient.'
Speaking before yesterday afternoon's announcement Detective Sergeant Alan Segrott, who led the investigation, said detectives had interviewed the doctor on suspicion of attempted murder.
The doctor had worked at Leighton until the late 1990s, but still works in the medical profession. He refused to say on which hospital ward the doctor was based or where he now practices.
The inquiries surrounding the doctor arose during a separate investigation into the alleged misconduct of Barbara Salisbury, a general surgical nurse at the hospital.
Salisbury denies trying to kill five elderly patients in her care between May 1999 and April 2002 and is due to stand trial on April 21.
It was while detectives were interviewing hospital staff about her alleged offences that these unrelated allegations came to light.
