Nurse convicted of killing four patients

LEEDS, England, March 3 (UPI) -- A nurse has been convicted of killing four elderly female patients at Leeds, England, hospitals in 2002.

Colin Norris, 32, is scheduled for sentencing Tuesday. He was convicted on four counts of murder after the court heard he killed his victims by intentionally overdosing them with insulin, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday.

"Here, we have a killer caught at the very beginning of his career. I am convinced that Colin Norris would have gone on to kill considerably more people if he was not stopped in his tracks," said Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Gregg, who led the investigation.

Detectives said Norris killed the women because he disliked elderly women in general and found the patients particularly irritating.

"He was selecting people who were a nuisance to him. One of the ladies was throwing her bedclothes off her just before he killed her. To him she was an irritant, a nuisance, and for that she died," Gregg said.

Prosecutor Robert Smith said each of Gregg's victims had undergone surgery for hip fractures and each could be seen as a "burden to nursing staff."