Former police worker Melissa Swift jailed for life over care home poisonings

Melissa Swift's actions led to 30 people being struck down with illness at Goldfield Court in West Bromwich.

One care worker was left struggling to walk or talk and was rushed to hospital with doctors fearing she was suffering a stroke, Birmingham Crown Court heard today.

Swift, aged 25, had searched 'how to kill people' on the internet and also looked up deadly poisons including cyanide. She took cleaning fluids containing bleach and eye drops into the care home and put them into water bottles and jugs in the staff room and residential areas, the court was told.

Former Sandwell special constable Swift, who appeared via videolink, broke down in tears as she was told she would serve at least eight years. She will remain at a secure mental health unit until she is deemed fit to be moved to prison.

Police: We'll never know why she did it

Judge Mark Wall told her she would only be released when not considered to be a threat to the public.

The court heard how Swift also made threats to kill two other people, including her own sister Lulla, and had daubed the words 'I will kill you' on the walls of the care home before the drinks were spiked. She also wrote in her diary that she wanted to kill someone.

Water was found to be contaminated at the care home in Dartmouth Street, Greets Green, after an investigation was launched when 23 residents and seven workers were taken ill with food poisoning-type symptoms in July 2014.

Swift, formerly of Hambletts Road, West Bromwich, pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder at a previous hearing. She also admitted making threats to kill after posting anonymous letters smeared in blood to two people, including her older sister, in which she said she would kill her and then cook and eat her.

The court heard she had suffered mental health problems in early 2014 before being allowed to return to work at Goldfield Court. She resigned her role as a Special Constable at West Midlands Police around the time of the attacks, citing mental health issues.

Judge Wall told her: "You took from your home into your workplace canisters with noxious liquids in them and put them into water bottles or water jugs and left them in the fridge for anyone to drink from. Your desire was for people to drink this liquid and die as a result.

"Your victims were workers or vulnerable residents of the home and the effect of what you did was unmeasurable."