We know we will never get what we wanted and needed; Truth, Accountability, and Justice. We have always felt the story of how an older male nurse groomed a vulnerable mentally ill patient into having sex on NHS hospital premises, and who then concealed a crisis pregnancy and arranged an abortion, is very much in the Public Interest.
What happened to Alison in the NHS Hospital in Carlisle was not known at the original inquest into her death and one way to get the facts into the open would have been through a fresh inquest. But for reasons we are unsure of, the Senior Coroner for Doncaster did not think what happened to Alison would have had an impact on her state of mind and blocked our efforts; go figure? We hoped to secure a fresh inquest so that we could find out as much as possible about the events contributing to Alison’s state of mind when she took her life. The door to this option was closed to us in 2023.
Former patients and staff have told me sex with patients was common and patients were sometimes raped. Alison herself recorded an incident of rape, the patient was told they could complain but nobody would believe them. What happened to Alison was not an isolated incident. In a just world, the police would fully explore what was done to vulnerable mental health patients in North Cumbria.
We would like independent reviews of the investigations undertaken in 2001 and 2016. These should clarify the role of the former Senior Police Commander on the board of the NHS at the time of the first investigation and establish what happened to the evidence we gave the Police that they conveniently lost. We think they had an implicit national policy of not intervening in cases of abuse in NHS Hospitals.
We would like Cumbria NHS Executives, Nigel Woodcock and Shirley Chipperfield investigated. How did Alison’s medical records suddenly disappear? Why didn’t they share the evidence I gave them with Cumbria Police? Were they trying to protect the reputation of the NHS Trust by making sure evidence never reached the CPS? We would like the consultant psychiatrist Dr Singh investigated, he knew what was going on and withheld information. We would like to know why managers ignored warnings from staff about what was happening.
We would like to know why Scott-Buccleuch was able to continue in Hospital Radio at another NHS Hospital under the same HR Director, Shirley Chipperfield, who knew what he had done when he was a Mental Health Nurse at the Garlands.
And we would like to know if the Hebron Church in Carlisle was aware of what Scott-Buccleuch had done. He had a position of responsibility at the Church for many years, including dealing with young adults.
Scott-Buccleuch seemingly has no desire to acknowledge or understand the damage he has caused. He hid his crimes for almost thirty years until the evidence I had held onto forced him to admit his actions to Cumbria Police. Using a vulnerable mental health patient to gratify his desires and covering his tracks with an abortion was despicable, immoral, selfish, unethical, unacceptable, illegal, and ultimately incredibly harmful. Though I wish him no harm, I believe he should be held accountable for what he did. I have asked him to speak with me more than once, my requests have been ignored.
Alison's Story 