A WOMAN whose mother was one of 22 patients poisoned by Stepping Hill Hospital nurse Victorino Chua said she finally has ‘justice’ after he was sentenced to life in jail.

Father-of-two Chua, 49, was jailed on Tuesday for at least 35 years for murdering two patients and poisoning 20 others at the Stockport hospital in June and July 2011.

While working on two acute wards he injected insulin into saline bags and ampoules, which were unwittingly used by other nurses, causing a series of insulin overdoses to mainly elderly victims.

Filipino Chua was convicted by a jury at Manchester Crown Court following a three-month trial.

Among the victims’ loved ones who packed the public gallery for Chua's sentencing was Settle resident Sue Haines, who said it had been “a very emotional experience.”

“His deadpan reaction has convinced me that they’ve got the right person,” she said. “There’s something very wrong about him – he’s had the same emotionless expression all the way through.”

Mrs Haines said her mother Daphne Harlow, now 90, was left “a different person” after being poisoned by Chua in July 2011.

The grandmother-of-three was taken in after falling at a care home.

Described as a friendly and sociable woman, Mrs Haines, 67, said when she visited her mother she found her anxious and acting ‘completely out of character’ – so confused that medics believed she was showing signs of dementia.

“My first reaction was: ‘What on earth has happened to her?’” said Mrs Haines.

“She was confused and distressed, picking at her bedding, making shapes in the air with her fingers – her brain was totally addled.

“It was very distressing because I thought I was just going to see someone with a sprained knee.

“I got very angry because I felt the hospital staff thought that’s what she was like all the time.”

Nursing staff believed Mrs Harlow was exhibiting signs of dementia, but a brain scan came back clear.

The family was later told by police that Mrs Harlow was thought to be one of the patients subjected to insulin overdoses after Chua tampered with saline drips.

The retired doctor’s receptionist was in hospital for just over a month. She took around 18 months to recover and still has health problems almost four years on.

Mrs Haines said: “Although it’s always difficult with someone my mum’s age to look back and say what would have happened, she is less mobile now and her eyesight has markedly worsened and I wonder whether these things are linked.”

Retired mum-of-three Mrs Haines, who lives with husband, retired Settle High School teacher John, has instructed law firm Slater and Gordon to launch a civil claim against Stockport NHS Foundation Trust which runs Stepping Hill.

Clinical negligence lawyer, Stephen Jones, from Slater and Gordon, said: “Patients in hospital are often referred to as being ‘in the best place’ - where they have a right to feel safe.

“For Mrs Harlow and the other victims this wasn’t the case and it is our view that there should have been proper supervision and safeguards in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening.”