A nurse accused of poisoning 21 hospital patients wrote “there’s a devil in me” in a letter found at his home in which he also said he was going to hell, a court has heard.

Victorino Chua, 49, is standing trial for allegedly murdering three patients and poisoning 18 others by contaminating saline drips and ampoules with insulin at Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester, between June 2011 and January 2012.

On Monday, Manchester crown court was shown a 13-page document written by the father-of-two in broken English, found in a kitchen drawer at Chua’s family home after his arrest in January 2012.

In the letter, he detailed his battle with depression and said that he was taking antidepressants, saying: “I’m evil at the same time angel.”

The first page of a letter written by Victorino Chua. Photograph: Crown Prosecution Service/PA

He wrote: “They thought I’m a nice person but there a devil in me. People see me as if I got no problem because I don’t show them my true colour.

“I know if I go, I go straight to hell no question ask … So I’m writing this letter in case something happen to me my family can continue my case or can tell somebody to look at it and work out how an angel turn to an evil person.



“The bitter nurse confession. Got lots to tell but I just take it to my grave. My family will make history here in England.”



The jury heard that during a therapy session in June 2010, a year before the nurse allegedly began poisoning patients, a counsellor suggested Chua should try writing his feelings down to provide an outlet for the anger and frustration he felt at that time. Chua told police the document was written as a result of the suggestion.

The nurse wrote that he loved working at Stepping Hill, but added: “Some of the staff are nice some of them are nasty bitch ... Work also don’t help colleagues are bullies ...”



Chua also wrote about his early life and career, about losing his job at a hospital in his native country, the Philippines, and his rows with fellow Filipinos in the UK. He wrote that he tried unsuccessfully to sue a previous employer in the UK and made a complaint to medical watchdogs over treatment he had received from a GP.

In the final passage, Chua wrote: “Still inside of me I can feel the anger that any time it will explode just still hanging on can still control it but if I will be pushed they gonna be sorry.”

Chua is alleged to have used a hypodermic needle in June and July 2011 to contaminate saline bags and ampoules, which he then left to be used by unsuspecting doctors and nurses. After an initial alert over the cases, which prompted a police investigation and increased security, he allegedly changed tack in January the following year, administering poison by altering the dosages on the prescription charts of seven patients.

The defendant, of Heaton Norris, has pleaded not guilty to 36 charges, including three alleged murders, one count of grievous bodily harm with intent, 23 counts of attempted grievous bodily harm, eight counts of attempting to cause a poison to be administered and one count of administering a poison.

His lawyer, Peter Griffiths QC, has claimed Chua is being used as a scapegoat after the deaths prompted a frantic investigation to identify the poisoner.

The trial continues.

