Police Alderney GP probe into four deaths dropped

Monday 13 July 2015

Guernsey police have dropped an investigation into an Alderney GP over four patient deaths, saying there is “no evidence of criminality”.

Three months after police raided the offices of the Eagle Medical Practice headed by Dr Rory Lyons, they say that they have dropped the case.

Dr Lyons still faces action by the GMC, and Guernsey Police have left open the option of resuming the investigation if further evidence emerges.

But at a press conference on Friday, Police Chief Pat Rice said that once the deaths had been referred to them, they had to undertake a full investigation, including a report from an independent expert in end-of-life care.

He said: “Taking the independent expert’s report into account, alongside the results of other lines of enquiry pursued by officers during this investigation, I am now in a position to confirm that we have found no evidence of criminality on the part of the doctor in question.

“As such the police investigation has ceased with immediate effect.”

“Throughout, we have taken a methodical approach, something I said was important so that everyone concerned in this - including members of the public - could have confidence in our findings.

“We will always go where the evidence takes us, and on this occasion it has led us to this conclusion.”

The investigation was sparked after suspicions were raised about four deaths in the last 18 months. The Daily Mail reported at the time that two of the dead were cousins, Karen and Colin Cosheril.

Guernsey’s Health department carried out an initial investigation into one death, which led to concerns about three others, before they alerted the police, who raided the GP's surgery in Ollivier Street, St Anne's.

Eagle Medical Practice is one of four GP surgeries serving the population of Alderney, which is just below 2,000.

When the investigation was announced, Mr Rice condemned a leak to the BBC about a raid on the Eagle Medical Practice just before it took place on 2 April as “one of the most irresponsible I have ever come across” and said that it had “put a significant police investigation at risk”.

Mr Rice praised the BBC for their responsible handling of the leak, and said that he had commissioned an inquiry into who gave them the information.