Job ruling on Stepping Hill saline case nurse

The nurse suspended after police charged her with contaminating saline at Stepping Hill hospital will find out later if she can return to work. Rebecca Leighton, 27, of Heaviley, Stockport, spent six weeks in prison before charges against her were dropped due to lack of evidence. She was also given an interim order suspending her from nursing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). The NMC is due to review the order on at a meeting on Wednesday. After the case against her was discontinued, Miss Leighton's solicitor Carl Richmond said she was "very disappointed" with the NMC's decision to suspend her "without giving it more thought". He said: "She wants to clear her name professionally even if she never nurses again." In a statement read by Mr Richmond, the nurse said she had been "living in hell" since her arrest. "My life has been turned upside down," she said. "All I ever wanted to do was pursue a profession in nursing, and care for my patients. "I think it unbelievable that anyone in the medical profession would ever put their patients' lives at risk." Greater Manchester Police are still investigating allegations of tampering with saline solution at the hospital and are looking at the suspicious deaths of Tracey Arden, 44, Arnold Lancaster, 71, and Alfred Derek Weaver, 83. The force said they had been "unlawfully administered insulin" but officers had yet to establish if that was a significant contributing factor to each of their deaths. Further tests are expected to take several weeks to complete.