The nurse accused of killing three patients with contaminated drips wrote of how she loved to party and dreaded working nights.
Rebecca Leighton was arrested in a dawn raid at the small flat she shares with her fiancé and was being questioned by detectives last night.
Known as Becki, the 27-year-old works at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport where her mother, Lynda, is understood to be a nurse training manager.
She is being held on suspicion of the murders there of George Keep, 84, Arnold Lancaster, 71, and Tracey Arden, 44.
Another suspected poisoning victim, a man in his early 40s, remains seriously ill.
Leighton – who documented her frantic social life and drinking on Facebook – is being quizzed about insulin which detectives believe was deliberately injected into 36 vials of saline solution to kill or harm patients.
Post-mortem examination results on the three who died are understood to have been inconclusive.
Police have stressed that proving a link between their deaths and the suspected insulin poisoning is likely to be a slow and complex process.
Teams of plain-clothed forensics experts in unmarked pick-up trucks spent the day searching both her flat and the darts shop below, which belongs to her fiancé Tim Papworth, 28.
The officers later left the flat with about six black bags and a computer and hard drive. The hospital is a 15-minute walk away on the busy A6.
Mrs Leighton, 55, is understood to train nurses at Stepping Hill and is described as extremely caring. Her husband David, 60, is a coach driver who has worked with the Manchester City football team.
Neighbour Frank Eaton, an 83-year-old widower, said: ‘They are a lovely couple. ‘When I lost my wife Jean recently, Lynda came round every night for weeks to make sure I was all right. But she’s like that, she’s in the caring profession.
Another neighbour said: ‘Lynda is quite high up at the hospital. She is a manager at Stepping Hill training nurses. Her daughter followed her into the profession – they are both very caring people.’
The hospital contacted police last Tuesday after an experienced nurse reported a higher than normal number of patients with ‘unexplained’ low blood sugar levels. Fourteen received dangerous levels of insulin from contaminated saline.
Security at the hospital has been increased with only authorised keyholders having access to drugs and medics working in pairs to minimise the chance of foul play.
These measures are expected to remain in place over the coming days.
In addition, ambulances bringing patients for emergency treatment have been diverted to other hospitals which have been warned to be vigilant to any ‘unusual events or patterns’.
Dorothy Potter, an elderly patient treated on the ward where saline was contaminated, said she had not been concerned about her care.
Speaking to the BBC, she called the nurses brilliant and absolutely wonderful, night and day. Asked how she felt about the revelations, she added: ‘I feel very disappointed for everybody really.’
Leighton is facing swift suspension by the Nursing and Midwifery Council – a standard move in such cases.
Last night chief executive Professor Dickon Weir-Hughes said: ‘We have commenced fitness to practise proceedings with a view to suspending her from the register as quickly as possible.’
Dr Chris Burke, chief executive of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘As the police are continuing with their inquiries we are unable to provide any further details, but it is important to stress that no charge has been made at this stage.’
Police have said their priority is to track down and charge the suspected saboteur after which they will examine whether he or she was also responsible for previous deaths at the hospital.
Rebecca Leighton’s Facebook pages
Rebecca Leighton’s Facebook pages tell of a frantic social life that helped her cope with the stress of work.
Last month she wrote on the social networking site: ‘Worst night’s sleep ever last nite, now for 14 hr shift aggghhhhhhh’ and ‘really really don’t want to go to work’.
In another post she put: ‘Bad bad day follow(ed) by wine is a must.’
In one picture, Leighton is seen downing a bottle of wine.
She adds: ‘Well what can i say, im a happy go lucky kinda gal, loves the wkend (if im not workin) and having a laugh with the people that i call friends [sic] for a reason.’
She describes her job as ‘NHS staff nurse’, but adds, ‘god it hard work x’.
The page is littered with entries about not looking forward to work – in one, posted two weeks ago, she wrote: ‘Back to work in the morn’ followed by an unhappy face symbol.
Ahead of one work night out, she wrote: ‘Oh what will tonight bring... drunken nurses!’
Last Friday – the day after police were called in – she posted: ‘This is what it’s all about’.
It was her first entry in a week and referred to how she was enjoying ‘food, DVD and monkey’ – her nickname for fiancé, Tim Papworth, 28, who runs a darts shop.
Her previous posting – simply the word ‘shattered’ – was posted on the evening of July 8, the day after the death of Tracey Arden, the first suspected poisoning victim.
On July 2, she was pictured smiling and surrounded by friends at a leaving party enjoying drinks and partying.
At a convenience store near her Stockport home, proprietor Hamid Bayatpoor, 47, said: ‘She comes in all the time in her nurse’s uniform and buys wine and cigarettes – Echo Falls rosé and packets of 20 or 40 Mayfair.
‘At the weekend she comes in all dressed up, wearing a party dress.
‘She’s a very nice girl, always laughing and smiling – I’m very surprised she’s been arrested.’
Leighton grew up in Stockport, attending Priestnall High School. She then completed an Open University nursing course following in the footsteps of her mother Lynda at Stepping Hill.
Family friend Frank Eaton, 83, said: ‘She’s very polite and very pleasant, she followed her mum into the profession.’
On Facebook, Leighton frequently complained about having to go to work, claiming she was drained after long shifts, night shifts and overtime.
And in a posting illustrating the strain she feels, she writes on January 17: ‘Becki Leighton… Seriously needs to sort her head out, slowly crumbling.’
Last month, she posted: ‘Really really don’t want to go to work :( xx’ follwed by ‘Drained is not the word :(‘
On May 30, she wrote: ‘Becki Leighton… is wondering what’s round the corner :)’
In postings punctuated with smiley faces and exclamation marks, she also discloses details of boozy evenings and weekends with her friends.
In October last year, she writes: ‘Becki Leighton… thinks 2nite is guna end up messy’.
On February 11, at 3.34am, she writes: ‘Oh what will tonight bring...... Drunken nurses!!!!!! :)’
Later, she writes: ‘Let the alcohol filled wkend begin’ followed by a posting about ‘messy times with my Girlies tonite’.
Last night the blinds at her parents’ £175,000 three-bedroom semi-detached home were shut and there was no answer at the door.
A neighbour in the Denton district of Greater Manchester, said: ‘I’m absolutely stunned. It has left me in total shock.
‘I can’t believe Becki would get mixed up in anything of the sort.
‘She is a lovely girl, polite and caring like her mother, and it is the last thing you would expect of a nurse. Everyone won’t believe me when I tell them.’
Her brother Darren, a mechanic, is on a round-the-world trip after being made redundant from his engineering job at Renault.
A friend said: ‘He’ll be devastated to hear this. It will leave him in shock.’
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