A care home nurse has been found guilty of murdering four elderly patients and attempting to kill a further seven by injecting them with insulin at several different homes.

Rahiied A, 23, has been jailed for 18 years to be followed by psychiatric prison and has been banned from working as a nurse for 25 years.

The case came to light in 2017 when a woman in a nursing home in Puttershoek fell ill. Doctors who examined her in hospital found an unusually high level of insulin in her blood. A month earlier another woman in the home had died when insulin was wrongly administered.

A said little in his defence during the trial. According to the public prosecution department, he had been motivated by a desire to show that he could work well under pressure. The court said he had fantasies of being a doctor.

Experts said A is suffering from post-traumatic stress and diminished responsibility, hence the decision not to jail him for life.