Articles | Nurse in court over deaths

Care home murder case hit by snow

The trial of a care home manager charged with the murders of three elderly residents has been adjourned because of the snow.

Rachel Baker, 43, who is a registered nurse, ran Parkfields Residential Care Home, in Butleigh, Somerset, with her husband Leigh Baker, 50.

It is alleged she murdered Marion Alder, 79, Clara "Lucy" Cox, 97, and Mary "Francis" Hay, 85, between 2006 and 2007.

Baker was due to appear at Bristol Crown Court for a preliminary hearing but the court was closed due to heavy snowfall in the area.

Baker also faces 11 counts of possession of controlled class A and C drugs at the preliminary hearing at Bristol Crown Court.

Baker and her husband are jointly charged with a single count of perverting the course of justice.

The couple, from Boundary Way, Glastonbury, Somerset, who took over the care home in 1988, were previously granted conditional bail.