nurses who kill S03E05
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00Nurses and carers, we place our life in their hands, but are we always safe? This is the
00:13series that tells the stories of those who take the lives of men and women they're supposed
00:19to care for. A carer opens a door to her patient's room. As she lay in bed, the unsuspecting
00:32lady considers her as a friend. Soon she realises this is no friend. With no way of raising
00:40an alarm, she sees the angry looking woman who had been nursing her for months come towards
00:45her. Beverley James closes in on Harriet Davison, raining blows upon her. This was not just
00:54terrifying, she was suddenly attacked. We get this fury unleashed and that's when I
01:02think we get this savage attack. Frenzied, merciless and ultimately enough to kill her.
01:09It was an attack of quite severe ferocity which caused horrible injuries to a frail
01:1688-year-old woman. Beverley James played many roles. Mother, carer, sex chat line worker
01:26and killer.
02:10In 2010, Harriet Davison was living in her own home in the north east of England. She
02:19was receiving regular care visits organised by a local company. In some respects we know
02:25quite little about Harriet. There was no family members to give us any extra information but
02:31she was an 88-year-old lady who was living in sheltered accommodation and she had some
02:38health needs and some care needs as most elderly people wouldn't. Looking after her
02:45one day a week, a carer who appeared straight forward. Very normal, very pleasant, very
02:51plausible woman that you may well trust. Beverley James was the carer who was delivering three
02:59hours of care a week so that was the shopping, the housekeeping and paying bills and getting
03:07pension. Beverley in her weekly visit held enormous power over Harriet, a lady who was
03:14in no position to defend herself. She had a number of issues with her legs so she was
03:21not very mobile hence needing someone to go and do the shopping and see to her finances
03:27so that would make her incredibly vulnerable and I think being in her own home as well,
03:32being in your own home makes you incredibly vulnerable when somebody comes in to commit
03:38an abusive act. So yes, she would have not been able to withstand even just the physical
03:47aspect of Beverley James. But surely there was nothing to fear from the mother of three
03:55attending to Harriet. Beverley James to all external appearances was just Mrs Ordinary.
04:03Her husband was a school caretaker, she had three children, she lived with her husband,
04:08she worked for a care agency doing care at home for old people and people with medical
04:15needs. She wasn't qualified medically but she was a carer and thought of as a good one.
04:22She had a certain amount of seniority within that company and was trusted and she was trusted
04:27not only by the people for whom she worked but the people who she served, the people
04:32who were her charges. With many of her friends having already passed away, some of her nurses,
04:40temporary locum staff, Harriet would look forward to the weekly visit from a familiar
04:45face. In 2011 a review of how the case of Harriet Davison had been cared for was ordered
04:55by authorities in Sunderland in the northeast of England. An investigator was to comb through
05:00events surrounding what had happened to 88 year old Harriet. Enquiries revealed amongst other
05:08things that Harriet had been the victim of theft on multiple occasions but that Beverley James was
05:14not thought by Harriet or anybody else as someone capable of stealing from the woman she was
05:20supposed to be looking after. I suppose Beverley James was the one person who was constant within
05:26her life throughout certainly the last two or three years of her life. She was there each week,
05:33in fact we found out later that she was there practically every day delivering some form of
05:40care or visiting and had at all intents and purposes befriended her and with the absence
05:48of really anyone else who's taken that role and no family she would have been very important.
05:54But Beverley was not quite what she seemed. By day a part-time carer, by night something
06:03altogether different. Needs must where the debt devil drives so she took on a second
06:12job in the sex chat lines business. Beneath the surface of this this ordinary family woman you've
06:23got things that when you dig are completely shocking and I suppose the driving force was
06:31that she lived her life by debt, she's perennially in debt, she needs to find extra money and she
06:41does that by working on a sex chat line in the evening. She started answering the sex line calls
06:50and doing that is all about playing a role that's all it is. She's not thought to have told anyone
07:01about her chat line role, not her husband, most certainly not her three children, so the carer
07:07who could ostensibly be trusted was telling one very big lie about herself. So these skills that
07:15she's developed playing at being some seductress with men desperate for her every suggestive word,
07:23playing at being a carer, an empathetic caring woman to these very vulnerable and the weakest
07:29in society and that's all she that's what she's become that's how she's learnt to function to
07:34succeed in life to survive in life is by playing out these roles. Wherever you've got people who
07:41have unusual psychological traits and they want to be abusive they will find a way around. Hardly
07:52what you want from a carer perhaps to be skilled in subterfuge, it's the reason that carers
07:57backgrounds are checked. If for instance you're a carer of any sort you have to go through what's
08:04called an enhanced criminal records check which means that not only convictions but anything that
08:11might not have led to a conviction but that makes you a risk or a potential risk to an elderly or
08:18vulnerable person has to be uncovered. However despite her double life Beverly James was more
08:27than welcome in the home of Harriet Davison. Harriet hadn't found a carer that she liked,
08:35the first two carers that Harriet had had allocated to her didn't suit Harriet at all so
08:42within Beverly James she had found somebody that she she liked the way that she worked.
08:49Nobody in authority suspected Beverly James of anything which left her free to abuse Harriet.
08:57James was a very dangerous person. If somebody has abuse in mind they will manipulate and
09:05manufacture situations where they are close to people where they can abuse them in whatever
09:11format they choose really and this case is financial abuse. In a deeply unfortunate twist
09:20to the tragic tale of what had happened to Harriet it would later be discovered that
09:23whilst Beverly James had no criminal record from her work in the northeast of England a
09:28former employer had suspected her of stealing money from somebody that she was supposed to
09:33be caring for but that woman's family refused to believe Beverly capable of theft. She had come
09:40in under suspicion previously and had been thought by the family of the individual who had also had
09:48money taken from them to be above suspicion. There had been suggestions that money had gone
09:54missing from her charges, 270 odd pounds on one occasion but she was almost above suspicion. The
10:04fact that that's happened once and she's managed to misappropriate funds and get away with it
10:10probably did give her a confidence to carry on. Indeed her employers at the time she was
10:17caring for Harriet Davison thought her a perfect part-time carer she seemed a natural. It's a kind
10:25of perfect storm that she's she's realized that within the caring community there are vulnerable
10:31people people people who want to believe in the role that she's putting forward it makes it all
10:36the more easier for her to play that role to perfection her audience wants her to be the role
10:41that she's trying to put forward. And the role she was playing was perfect carer who put in extra
10:49hours to support Harriet Davison's needs. Her employers and Harriet herself were completely
10:55taken in so Beverly's life in 2010 seemed set. By night manning the chat lines, by day caring for
11:04her children and each week for Harriet. Cast in many roles she convinced everyone. People saw her
11:14as very caring they didn't really have any suspicions that was anything more than her being
11:21a very attentive carer. Nobody knew of the two sides to Beverly James allowing her to carry on
11:30her twin existences but with one target in mind. It's about Beverly James getting what Beverly
11:37James wants and what Beverly James needs and that is money. In time the health of her patient
11:44Harriet worsened. She needed greater intensity in her care after suffering a stroke. Strokes vary
11:51in their severity but in her case there's no question that she was very significantly disabled
11:57by this. There were some medical needs in terms of having district nurses coming in to do sort of
12:04dressings to wounds and things that that Harriet needed generally. She was prone to sores which she
12:11relied on someone else to dress. That means she would also have been reliant on them to wash her,
12:17dress her, possibly even feed her. Physically unable to care for herself and needing help with
12:24everyday realities like paying her bills Harriet leaned on Beverly. In many ways she was all Harriet
12:30had. Harriet had no close family so she relied on carers for every aspect of her day-to-day needs.
12:38For events that the rest of us do without thinking completely take for granted she would have been
12:45totally reliant on Beverly James. Such dependence put Harriet's life in Beverly's hands and that was
12:55not a good place to be. A woman so deep in debt that she had taken to manning sex chat phone lines
13:11late at night was also caring for an elderly lady who had no one else to turn to when she most needed help.
13:18I think whenever you've got an elderly person who's not got any family around them that makes them
13:25particularly vulnerable and for Harriet she was almost totally reliant on Beverly James to do her
13:34everyday kind of needs and so that brings a very special relationship and it's really important
13:42that the professional keeps a professionalism in the relationship and doesn't overstep the mark
13:48into a friendship. It would for example be frowned upon for Beverly to take Harriet's personal mobile
13:56telephone number. Theirs was supposed to be a purely professional relationship, no calls at
14:02home, but it appeared to have gone much further than that as Beverly completely inappropriately
14:08took control of so many parts of Harriet's life. Beverly James was first and foremost a professional
14:15carer. There are many carers who go way above and beyond the call of duty because almost by
14:21definition if you become a carer the vast majority of people who do are doing it because they want
14:28to help other people, they enjoy caring for other people and making a difference to society. But
14:34whether you do or not there's a very long distance between going in once a week and perhaps popping in
14:40to check up on someone and being at their home pretty much every day when you're not supposed
14:45to be there for professional reasons. How far would Beverly James go in exploiting the frail,
14:52vulnerable Harriet? How much danger was the 88-year-old in from a carer by day who by late
14:59night was working sex chat lines and was by morning the doting mother preparing for her
15:05children to go to school? Which of the characters that she played was the real Beverly James?
15:10Although superficially Beverly is a carer and a mother, I don't think that in her heart she's ever
15:19these things. I don't think that's actually who she is. I think always to be these things is an
15:25act of make-believe, is a role she puts on. Much as she puts on her uniform it's like putting on
15:30a costume and I think it's probably the same for playing the part of the mother for somebody
15:35psychologically like Beverly James. So it's not a case of how she moves from being a warm-hearted
15:41empathetic individual. I don't think she ever was. As Beverly appeared to care for Harriet, she was
15:50actually manipulating her. The boundaries of Harriet Davison's and Beverly James relationship
15:55had blurred as they superficially became friends. A manager involved in running the care company
16:02became worried. She took her concerns to bosses, including that Mrs. Davison had James's personal
16:09mobile telephone number. That was disapproved of, but she was told that Beverly was a good worker.
16:15There was no reason for concern, but there was cause for concern. Here was a woman who was almost
16:22entirely at the mercy of her carers. I'm not saying don't be friendly, but moving into friendship is
16:32quite tricky and from Harriet's point of view, you know, she was a lonely lady. She was asking for and
16:40needed sort of extra human contact and when that's being offered to you by somebody that you believe
16:47has got your best interests at heart, you're likely to take it. Was Harriet being naive? In truth, she had
16:57If you're elderly, disabled, live alone, have no close family, you are going to be incredibly socially isolated.
17:06We know that with social isolation come an increased risk of anxiety, of depression, even of cognitive problems.
17:16In other words, memory loss, possibly even dementia. So Harriet was in exactly that position and yet she had
17:24struggled to find people that she could trust or form a close relationship with before.
17:31What Beverly now offered was a one-stop shop for Harriet's needs. She would bank for her, use her
17:37withdrawal card and return with money. The cash taken out was then hardly well hidden.
17:45When monies were brought back into the flat, they were put into a tin and the money in that tin, as we
17:52understand, was above £2,000 at times. Indeed, Beverly soon had access to all of Harriet's finances.
18:01You have to question, is this a healthy relationship between the carer and the person she's caring for?
18:08The crazy thing is that you've got this 88-year-old woman, Harriet Davids, she's got this money, she's
18:15allowed this woman, who is her carer, who she trusts, unfettered access to her bank accounts, to her affairs.
18:25Beverly was almost solely in charge of Harriet's finances. And in fairness to Beverly, that was a role that she was given.
18:35But because the monies that she was going to, the cash point or the post office, getting money out and then
18:41taking it back, there was no one to check on how much money had been taken out and whether all of the monies went to the right places.
18:52She's got this degree of autonomy because she's held in such high regard within the firm.
18:58Harriet Davidson holds her in high regard because she trusts her, so nobody, her or her family, are doing any kind of oversight of it.
19:06And you've got a woman living by debt who's got access to somebody else's bank account.
19:10But there was a logic to how things had developed, which James knew. Somebody had to help Harriet.
19:17Her role was to get her money and to take it back to her and to pay her bills. That was her role.
19:24The problem here was that the company had not got stringent arrangements about how that would happen.
19:33And so she was solely responsible for and solely had the knowledge of how much money she'd taken out and how much she'd taken back to Harriet and what bills had been paid.
19:47So it just made it easier, I think, for her to misappropriate funds than possibly it should have been.
19:57Harriet was oblivious to the threat of allowing James so much power.
20:02She would see her as a friend. She would see somebody who was working to her best interests.
20:11To have Beverly James appear, with whom she got on so well, must have seemed too good to be true.
20:18In this case, of course, unfortunately, it turned out that too good to be true is exactly what it was.
20:26Too good to be true because with each visit, Beverly James, deep in debt, was stealing Harriet's money.
20:32Cashing out funds from her bank account, slowly taking every penny Harriet had.
20:38She was so desperate that she chose to steal and to steal from an old lady who she was meant to be caring for.
20:49Here we have this feeble, dependent woman of 88 who has money.
20:55It must have made her furious.
20:57She has all the power.
20:58She's dependent upon, she's indispensable to Harriet.
21:02And yet Harriet's the one with all the money and Beverly has nothing.
21:08The sex chat line's business was not so lucrative that Beverly could hope to pay off her debts.
21:14Meanwhile, Harriet Davison kept a substantial amount of money in her flat, at times as much as £7,000.
21:20Visit by visit, that sum went down.
21:23Then, in what appeared something of a puzzle to police, James reported a crime at Harriet's home.
21:31In July 2009, Harriet Davison reports a burglary at her flat.
21:35Something like £2,000 is stolen.
21:40There had been one large amount of money taken when there had been a sort of staged burglary at her flat,
21:48which we now know was Beverly James taking over £2,000.
21:56And there is evidence that the monies were being taken from her account for a considerable length of time.
22:06When police came to question Mrs Davison, they found that she had company.
22:12Police naturally are called, and when they're there, so is Beverly James.
22:16And Beverly James stays, and all the time that the police officers are taking the initial report of the crime
22:23and starting an investigation, you've got Beverly James, the suspect, unbeknownst to anybody, sitting there helping.
22:33She acted as Harriet's sort of advocate, really, during the police investigation, the police interview.
22:45It may well be that Beverly James prompted her,
22:49oh, don't you remember so-and-so? Thank you, dear.
22:53She would have been, perhaps, very grateful to Beverly for helping her.
22:59In what is always going to be a stressful situation, it's bad enough to realise you've been burgled,
23:05but then to have to sit through being questioned by the police.
23:09The police officers will be finding that they've got a go-between and somebody who knows about the flat
23:13and perhaps is a little bit more aware of the surroundings than Harriet might be, so it helps them.
23:20But most of all, it helps Beverly, because she's stolen the money and she's able to make sure that the investigation,
23:27right from the very start, is steered away from any suspicion that might be her.
23:33The irony is that while it's entirely possible that Beverly James was, in fact, to blame for this money going missing,
23:40Harriet probably was very grateful for her assistance in helping her through a difficult interview.
23:49It had all been a ruse to cover up the fact that James simply needed an excuse to explain why Harriet's cash had disappeared.
23:58Money James herself had taken.
24:01The woman, playing a variety of roles, was getting deeper into debt
24:05and using a vivid imagination to cover up the truth of what she was up to.
24:19What followed the allegation of a burglary at the home of Harriet Davison
24:23What followed the allegation of a burglary at the home of Harriet Davison
24:27does not suggest a thorough police inquiry.
24:30There was an investigation by the police, and yes, they did look to see who had taken the funds or where the funds had gone,
24:38but in terms of the depth of that investigation, I guess that there's some question marks around that.
24:48However, helping Beverly James divert suspicion from her was the fact that she was one of the more experienced and respected carers on the books.
24:58She'd been working for the same care establishment for a number of years and was possibly one of the more senior people,
25:07and there was a sort of slightly strange situation where she was almost supervising herself
25:13because she was seen as somebody who had the skills and was trusted.
25:19And the reason that she is so expert at being an actress is because for her that's what life is.
25:28It's all about playing a role, so she's learnt over years and years to play out whatever role was required of her in any given situation.
25:38A trusted carer, but chillingly one whose behaviour was escalating from what could be described as petty theft to much bigger offences.
25:48We know that she had staged a burglary.
25:51We know that she had previously taken, I think it was £276 from another person within her care.
25:59I suppose if you consider that, it looks like there's an increased pattern of misappropriating funds,
26:08so maybe she was getting braver as time went on.
26:13Was she brave enough to kill?
26:15I think we had a time bomb waiting to explode.
26:19That Beverly James was always short of money wasn't exactly a secret.
26:24It wasn't unknown to her employers that she was having some financial difficulties.
26:30Indeed some of Beverly James' bills were being paid straight from her salary,
26:37and so it was known that she was struggling financially.
26:46There is no doubt as she superficially went about her business that Beverly was running out of ideas.
26:52According to forensic psychologist Donna Youngs, her behaviour stems almost suddenly from something pathetically simple.
26:59She'd never properly grown up.
27:01It's a lack of maturity, a lack of development that allows this to manifest in adult life.
27:09So it's as if she's held in the infant state of megalomania,
27:15where whatever she wants she should be allowed, she should and she will be allowed to have,
27:20and all hell will break loose if that's not followed through.
27:24Suddenly in 2010, Beverly the megalomaniac faced a problem.
27:29Reality caught up with her.
27:31Either her creditors were demanding money,
27:34or perhaps Harriet had spotted that her own money had gone missing.
27:38Either way, James was in trouble.
27:42And then the money ran out.
27:44And so desperation is built upon desperation, isn't it?
27:47Because I can't do this anymore, but not only can I not do this and survive,
27:52but I'm going to be found out.
27:54If I get found out, then the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.
27:58I guess not thinking clearly or not really thinking through the consequences.
28:02So I need to do something about it.
28:06But what crime? She'd already staged a burglary.
28:09Harriet had every reason to be afraid.
28:13Somebody daring to not buy into her construction of reality,
28:17to the role that she's playing.
28:21And we get this fury unleashed and this uncontrollable anger.
28:30James decided there was only one course of action.
28:33One summer day in Sunderland, James opened the door to Harriet's room.
28:38Inside, her unsuspecting patient, who considered Beverley her friend, lay in bed.
28:44No doubt she may have thought this was just a routine visit from Beverley.
28:50But soon she would have become frightened.
28:53Unable to defend herself, with no way of raising an alarm,
28:57Harriet saw an angry-looking James come towards her.
29:03Had she confronted James about the missing money?
29:06Nobody will ever know what made Harriet's carer snap.
29:09But snap she did.
29:11A large woman. She closed in on Harriet.
29:14Raining blows down upon her.
29:20This was not just terrifying.
29:22She was suddenly attacked.
29:24She came to the realisation that the very woman she trusted
29:28and had welcomed into her home,
29:31was savagely attacked.
29:33Harriet suffered massive injuries.
29:35Her ribs cracked.
29:37We get this fury unleashed, and that's when I think we get this savage attack.
29:44Harriet was perhaps the ultimate easy victim.
29:47Beverley James did not need to carry out a vicious, sustained physical attack on her.
29:55She could so easily have been killed.
29:59She could so easily have overpowered her and simply suffocated her.
30:05Instead, she beat her remorselessly.
30:10The attack on her, frenzied, merciless.
30:13It was an attack of quite severe ferocity,
30:16which caused horrible injuries to a frail 88-year-old woman.
30:23From a medical perspective,
30:25from a medical perspective, in terms of subduing her,
30:29it was absolutely unnecessary.
30:32I can only imagine that this was for her own sick gratification.
30:39James grabbed anything to hand to make sure that Harriet would die.
30:43Not only was the beating severe,
30:46not only did Harriet suffer a broken cheekbone,
30:52but the cause of death was actually found to be suffocation,
30:55and that's because while she was still alive,
30:58a throw was stuffed, a big piece of cloth was stuffed into her mouth,
31:02and she suffocated.
31:04Effectively, she couldn't breathe, although still alive,
31:07because of this in her mouth.
31:09So, you know, it's a horrible, possibly slow death for a frail 88-year-old woman.
31:17When it was over, James herself must have been exhausted,
31:21but she had succeeded.
31:23Harriet was dead.
31:25This completely unprovoked, vicious murder was the ultimate betrayal.
31:36As she walked away from the woman that she had looked after for two years,
31:40whose money she had stolen, leaving her with nothing,
31:43James walked from the scene
31:45and put in place a plan of action to cover up her crime.
31:49That plan meant the woman of many roles
31:52was to add another part to her repertoire, that of victim.
31:56She called the police, the second time she had done so from Harriet's flat.
32:01She told of a terrible attack, both on Harriet and on her.
32:07So one year after this burglary, in July 2010,
32:11Beverly James makes a 999 call from Harriet's flat,
32:15and she's obviously distraught,
32:17and her garbled message to the operator is,
32:20we need help here, we need police, we need ambulance,
32:23we've been attacked by an intruder,
32:25Harriet Davidson is dead, and I've been assaulted.
32:30All of James's energies now turned to her new character, the crime victim.
32:36I think that she will be focused on what her new role is now,
32:42where her story is going now,
32:45the fantasy that she is now part of, and creating that.
32:49And that fantasy was this.
32:52She had been pounced on from behind as she was leaving the flat.
32:56She described her attacker as a white male in his 30s,
33:00bald and tattooed, wearing a Sunderland Football Club T-shirt.
33:05She said her assailant punched her and Mrs Davidson,
33:09before ordering her to carry out a series of bizarre acts.
33:13She had seen the intruder beating Mrs Davidson with a radio,
33:17and he had made her lie on top of the pensioner.
33:20She added that the bald attacker had forced her to light a cigarette
33:24and blow smoke onto his genitals,
33:27a story perhaps from one of her Chatline callers.
33:30He had then put a wire around her neck,
33:33hit her with a lamp and stuffed a stocking into her mouth.
33:39It was all nonsense to cover up her own murder of a woman
33:43who had once relied upon her.
33:46Would Beverley James get away with it?
33:58Harriet Davidson was dead.
34:02Killed by the one woman she had trusted
34:05to help her live out her final days.
34:09Anyone who attacks a defenceless, frail old woman
34:14is morally completely lacking.
34:18But the idea that this is someone she knew so well,
34:22someone she'd formed what Harriet thought was a close relationship with
34:27over months, makes it even more repugnant.
34:32Beverley's was a life of lies and deceit, theft and now murder.
34:37As she looked plaintively into the eyes of arriving detectives,
34:41Beverley James was giving the performance of her life.
34:44She had faked everything.
34:46Just as she appeared a normal mother, a trusted carer,
34:50now she appeared as the victim of a heinous murder
34:53and bizarre attack upon her.
34:55I think that Beverley James is actually, by this point in her life,
35:00I think she is so socially skilled
35:02that few people would pick up on the artifice that is actually going on,
35:07on the fact that she is playing make-believe,
35:10that none of it is real to her,
35:12none of the roles she's playing out are actually real to her.
35:17Beaten, suffocated, killed.
35:19The bloody and bruised body of Harriet Davidson
35:22confronted detectives after answering the call
35:25to emergency services made by Beverley James.
35:28A year ago, she had called to report a burglary.
35:31This time it was a murder and an assault on herself.
35:36That fact in itself made them suspicious.
35:39There was much to unpick, but something else soon became clear.
35:43The money which had been set aside to make Mrs Davidson's retirement
35:46a comfortable one had all but disappeared from her account.
35:51It's remarkable, really, that this old lady had,
35:54this old lady had getting on for £18,000 in her bank account
35:58when this started.
36:01By the time she was murdered and Beverley James arrested,
36:07Harriet's bank account stood at £17.
36:11So Beverley James had managed, over a relatively short period of time,
36:16to take £17,000 from this lady and leave her with nothing.
36:20And perhaps there you see where the motive for the murder might be,
36:23because the money was running out,
36:26and when the money ran out to nothing,
36:28then it was going to be much more difficult for Beverley James
36:31to cover the fact that she was stealing it,
36:33because there would still be bills to pay and nothing to pay them with.
36:41Whoever had killed Harriet was not a random burglar.
36:44That would not explain why all of her money had gone missing
36:47over the previous two years.
36:49Detectives soon identified their lead suspect.
36:54You know, people who commit murder as a solution to another problem
37:00very often don't think it through.
37:04James, like so many killers, had not thought through her defence.
37:08When you've got somebody like Beverley James
37:11who is committing a serious crime out of desperation,
37:15they will use what knowledge and what intelligence they have
37:20to create a situation that they think is credible.
37:24And that's what she did here.
37:26But, really, it was amateur hour,
37:29because there were so many holes in what she did
37:32and it was so easy to prove very quickly that she was a murderer.
37:39There was plenty of forensic evidence to support a charge of murder.
37:43James' fingerprints and DNA were present on the throw used to suffocate Harriet.
37:49Her hands were bruised from the pummeling that she'd meted out.
37:53The flat was on the top floor of the care home,
37:56unlikely to have been chosen by an intruder bent on burglary.
38:00CCTV footage showed no one but James herself entering Harriet's rooms.
38:06The salaciousness of her defence,
38:08that she had been forced into bizarre sexual acts,
38:11was not supported forensically.
38:14Whilst her story was branded a tissue of lies
38:16when she appeared at Newcastle Crown Court,
38:19one juror did actually find her not guilty.
38:22But Eleven did find her guilty,
38:24and she was sentenced to life for murder.
38:27Serious questions now remained.
38:29How had she been given a job as a carer?
38:32And how was it possible for her to have access to an elderly woman's account,
38:36one who could become occasionally confused,
38:39especially since suffering the stroke?
38:41Beverly James was a professional carer,
38:44and there are reasons that anybody carrying out personal care
38:49is required not just to have a standard criminal check,
38:54but what's called an enhanced check,
38:56where they look not just for convictions,
38:58but for any other information that might not have led to a conviction,
39:02but could lead to somebody being a potential danger
39:07to a vulnerable older person.
39:09Beverly James certainly should have had this case
39:13where she was suspected of stealing from another client flagged.
39:17It should certainly have been in her records.
39:20And I think that the authorities should have been very wary
39:24about allowing her to have any contact with another very vulnerable client,
39:29let alone to build up this extremely regular close relationship with her.
39:36Officers from Northumbria Police, local authorities and two care companies
39:41were criticised after an independent investigation
39:44found failures and flaws in their approach to the case.
39:49A review carried out by Sunderland Safeguarding Adult Support
39:53found there had been failures to act on subtle warning signals
39:57in the run-up to Mrs Davison's death.
39:59The woman who led the inquiry offered many conclusions.
40:03The obvious one was that more questions should have been asked by employers.
40:08It's just developing that sort of healthy scepticism
40:12that somebody that's in a caring role,
40:15really when things don't seem right
40:18or you see that people are doing things that are over and above
40:21or outside of their role,
40:23then there is a need to sort of question the motive behind that.
40:27So there will always be caring people, thank goodness,
40:30that will go the extra mile,
40:32but when you have somebody who is going to an elderly person's flat
40:38nearly on a daily basis
40:40when they're only being paid for three hours a week,
40:43then there needs to be some questioning of that
40:47and thinking about, actually, what does that mean and why is this happening?
40:52Ironically, James's second career,
40:54that of someone answering and playing out a role
40:57on sex chat lines,
40:59appears to have contributed to the make-up of the carer who killed.
41:03James would tell her friends how often she felt unattractive,
41:07but not when on the phone with paying customers.
41:10It was the reinforcement that James got from the lurid sex chat
41:14that convinced her she could play another role,
41:17that of carer, when in fact she was completely unsuitable.
41:21The psychological hit for somebody
41:24who might be viewed as rather unattractive,
41:28to be getting the responses,
41:30to be able to elicit the responses she was getting from men,
41:34had an enormous impact on Beverly James's sense of potency,
41:39on her belief in how she could manipulate the world to her own ends
41:44if she played a role.
41:46I think that we shouldn't underestimate
41:48just how answering sex lines in the evenings
41:51distorted and turned this woman,
41:53who was basically unsuitable to be a carer,
41:56into somebody for whom it was dangerous to be a carer.
42:03Could Beverly James have been prevented from murdering Harriet Davison?
42:08Possibly, but it's not always easy to spot a killer,
42:11especially when considering those who care for us.
42:15I think that's a...
42:18I think that's very often the case with people who do abuse.
42:25They don't come with red flags
42:28and they don't tend to be people
42:30that seem out of the ordinary in any particular way.
42:37It's just that behind closed doors and in their own minds,
42:41they're not thinking like the rest of us,
42:43and whereas we might see somebody
42:46who is very caring on the outside,
42:48there's clearly been thought processes going on
42:51about, I cannot take advantage of this elderly, vulnerable person,
42:56and she did.
42:58Beverly James was sentenced to a minimum term of 20 years
43:02for the murder of Harriet Davison.
43:04She will not be eligible for parole until 2031.
43:16For more information, visit www.fema.gov