​The nurse accused of murdering two elderly patients at a Somerset care home stole medication from residents to feed her addiction to class A drugs, a court heard.

Rachel Baker’s trial finally began yesterday almost three years after she was arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of residents at Parkfields Care Home in the little village of Butleigh near Glastonbury.

Baker, 44, from Glastonbury, started to abuse drugs prescribed to, and stolen from, residents at the care home she ran with her husband Leigh Baker in 2005, Bristol Crown Court heard yesterday. She stands accused of murdering Francis Hay, 85, on November 22 2006, and Lucy Cox, 97, on January 1 2007, after one of the West’s most high-profile investigations which involved the extremely rare step of exhuming three bodies from Somerset cemeteries.

More than 5,000 units of medication prescribed to those living at Parkfields were unaccounted for between late-2005 and mid-2006, the court heard.

Baker, from Glastonbury, would often procure prescriptions by exaggerating her patients’ symptoms.

Prosecutor David Fisher told the jury that by late 2006, Baker, the former manager at the home, became addicted to diamorphine – similar to the street drug heroin – pethidine and diazepam.

Mr Fisher said “with that background” mother-of-one Baker allegedly murdered Francis Hay, 85, and Lucy Cox, 97.

Opening the case, Mr Fisher said: “She fed her addiction by taking drugs which had been prescribed not to her but to residents at the home and from her husband.

“On occasion she would simply steal drugs from residents, on other occasions she would obtain prescriptions for residents which they didn’t require or didn’t require in such large volumes by exaggerating or falsifying their symptoms so she could use the drugs herself.”

Growing concerns

Mr Fisher went on: “For many years Rachel Baker was an extremely good nurse.

“But at about the end of 2005 and beginning of 2006 her behaviour became increasingly erratic, and a number of members of staff developed growing concerns about her, and her patient care.

“The cause of her erratic behaviour was an increasing addiction to drugs.”

Mr Fisher said Baker started to suffer from migraines in 1999, and was first treated for them at a surgery in nearby Street.

Throughout early 2006, Baker was prescribed painkiller pethidine to treat severe migraines, the court heard.

Mr Fisher said Baker would give a “variety of excuses” to explain why she needed further prescriptions, including claiming her daughter had scribbled on the prescriptions and her handbag was stolen. Doctors, suspicious of misuse, eventually withdrew the prescription, Mr Fisher said.

Medical staff recorded that Baker became “extremely distressed” and was “deeply wounded” by suggestions she was a drug addict.

Baker repeatedly refused alternative migraine medication when it was offered to her, the court heard.

Mr Fisher said between July 25 2006 and November 28 2006, Baker’s visits to the GP suddenly stopped.

There were at least eight patients from whom Baker diverted drugs for her own use, the court heard.

These were Fred Green, Francis Hay, Lucy Cox, James Hoare, Nellie Pickford and Marion Alder and two other residents who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court heard more than 5,000 units of medication – ranging from tablets to oral solutions to patches – were unaccounted for between late 2005 and mid-2006.

Baker has accepted she diverted drugs from all eight residents – and her own husband. She denies two counts of murder.

The court heard Parkfields resident Mr Green, who died on January 6 2006, had suffered from a severe stroke and was also being treated for painful skin cancer on his scalp.

Mr Fisher said thousands of units of different medication – including morphine sulphate, tramadol and diamorphine – prescribed to Mr Green were unaccounted for. Toxicology tests taken during Mr Green’s post-mortem examination revealed he had not been receiving the medication prescribed to him.

Mr Fisher said: “He was not getting what he should have been given and he was getting things he should not have been.”

Mr Fisher said Baker fudged the records of another resident, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to hide from police “the misappropriation” of prescription drugs.

This consequently perverted the course of justice and impeded the investigation, Mr Fisher said.

The court heard that Baker completed her training as a nurse in December 1987, becoming a registered nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

She married Leigh Baker on April 9, 1988, Mr Fisher added.

The court heard that Mr Baker, 51, suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, and was prescribed tramadol.

The care home was originally bought and set up by Mr Baker’s parents, Malcolm and June Baker. It opened in 1988.

In 2000, Malcolm and June Baker reduced their role and employed Rachel Baker as manager. She became responsible for running the home and for the administration of drugs, including controlled drugs.

Mr Baker was responsible for catering at the home, as well as the accounts and general handyman duties, Mr Fisher said.

The trial is expected to run until the end of March.