Beginning in 2000, Rachel Baker, with her husband, managed Parkfields
Residential Care Home, Butleigh, Somerset, England. Baker received her license
in 1987 and had been initially considered "an extremely good" nurse.
Suffering from migraines, she was prescribed powerful painkilling
drugs. In 2005 Rachel started abusing opiates. The fact was discovered in 2006
by Sarah Barnett, a member of her staff, who reported this to officials.
On Jan. 8, 2007, following a long string of deaths of
patients over a period of a year and a half, an investigation of Parkfields was
instigated. A post mortem examination was conducted on the remains of a Lucy
Cox and eleven other suspicious deaths were investigated by police. It is
thought that on New Year’s Day 2007 Rachel Baker had given her a
"massive" overdose of the painkiller tramadol.
The bodies of three other former Parkfields residents Nellie
Pickford, Marion Alder and Fred Green were exhumed and analyzed.
On New Year's Day
2007 she murdered a second resident, Lucy Cox, it was claimed.
As the bodies had been in the ground so long, there was no
clear evidence of how they died.
Rachel Baker allegedly fed her addiction by
"diverting" drugs prescribed for residents at the care home so that
she could feed her own addiction. She either stole the drugs from residents who
needed them or exaggerated or made up symptoms so that drugs the elderly people
did not really need were prescribed.
In January 2009, Rachel Baker charged with murder and
possession of controlled drugs. She was accused of having diverted drugs from
at least eight residents. The records system at the home showed that “very
significant quantities of drugs were unaccounted for". The prosecutor
claimed that more than 4,000 tablets were missing along with almost 2,000
ampoules and more than 1,000 doses of oral solution.
On April 8, 2010, Baker “was found not guilty of killing
Frances Hay, 85, and Lucy Cox, 97, by injecting lethal doses of painkillers at
Parkfields residential care home in Butleigh, near Glastonbury. She was also
cleared of attempting to murder Hay. She had admitted 10 counts of possessing
class A and C drugs, and one of perverting the course of justice. The following
day, however, she was convicted at Bristol Crown Court of the manslaughter of
Mrs Cox but acquitted of the manslaughter of another resident, Frances Hay, 85.”
On May 21, 2010 Rachel Baker was “sentenced to nine months
to run concurrently for perverting the course of justice, over the lies she
wove around her drug consumption including forging records. She was also given
18 months concurrently for possession of class A drugs, and six months
concurrently for possession of class B and C drugs.”
[Robert St. Estephe, Oct. 31, 2019]
***
Parkfields Residential Care Home, Butleigh, Somerset, England
1987 – Baker qualified in 1987 and had been initially
considered "an extremely good" nurse.
2000 – She took over the management of Parkfields in 2000,
running it with her husband, Leigh.
1999 – But the year before becoming manager in 2000, she had
begun to suffer migraines and was given strong painkillers including
diamorphine – heroin – and pethidine.
2005 – Fisher said that in about the autumn of 2005 Baker
began to abuse prescribed drugs.
2006 – By the end of 2006 she was addicted or had been
addicted to a variety of drugs including heroin (diamorphine), diazepam and
pethidine.
Nov. 17, 2004 – Death of Marion Banbury, 91 (Her death was
among those investigated by police but no charges were brought).
Jan. 6, 2006 – Death of Fred Green, 81 (investigated but no
charge).
Feb. 6, 2006 – Death of James Hoare, 80 (investigated but no
charge).
May 14, 2006 – Death of Doreen Sweet, 93 (investigated but
no charge)
Jun. 13, 2006 – Parkfields passed an unannounced seven-hour
inspection by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), which credited
the home’s “comfortable and homely atmosphere”.
Jul. 19, 2006 – Death of Nellie Pickford, 89 (investigated
but no charge)
Jul. 27, 2006 – Death of Marion Alder, 78 (investigated but
no charge)
Nov. 22, 2006 – Death of Frances Hay, 85. Rachel Baker was
convicted of her manslaughter.
Jan. 1 2007 – Death of Lucy Cox, 97. Rachel Baker was
ultimately cleared of her murder and manslaughter.
Jan. 4, 2007 – Whistleblowers Sarah Barnett and Kathy Slade
report concerns to the CSCI.
Jan. 8, 2007 – Post mortem on Mrs Cox. Police investigation
begins.
Jan. 24, 2007 – Further inspection at the home by the CSCI
finds “standards had deteriorated significantly” since the previous inspection
in June 2006.
Mar. 15, 2007 – Parkfields closed after CSCI withdraws its
registered status.
Jun. and July 2007 – Police exhume bodies of three former
Parkfields residents, Nellie Pickford, Marion Alder, and Fred Green.
Jan. 2009 – Rachel Baker charged with murder and possession
of controlled drugs.
Apr. 8, 2010 – Rachel Baker cleared of murdering Lucy Cox
and Frances Hay.
Apr. 9, 2010 – Rachel Baker cleared of manslaughter of
Frances Hay but convicted of manslaughter of Lucy Cox.
May 18, 2011 – Report. The review was voluntarily
commissioned by the Somerset Safeguarding Adults Board, with input from NHS
Somerset, the Care Quality Commission and Somerset County Council. It was
independently chaired by Margaret Sheather, the former group director of
Community and Adult Care at Gloucestershire County Council.
May 21, 2010 – sentenced to nine months to run concurrently
for perverting the course of justice, over the lies she wove around her drug
consumption including forging records. She was also given 18 months
concurrently for possession of class A drugs, and six months concurrently for
possession of class B and C drugs.
***
SOURCES
[“Care home deaths: timeline of the investigation; Rachel
Baker was today found guilty of the manslaughter of one of the residents of the
care home she managed.” The Telegraph (London), Apr. 9, 2010]
[“Parkfields care home report: Killing 'hard to stop', BBC, 18
May 2011]
[“Care home manager jailed for killing elderly resident,” The
Guardian, May 21, 2010]
[220-1/16/21]
***
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