Nurse Victorino Chua maintains innocence despite convictions

South Manchester's lead coroner is to open inquests into 10 further deaths of inpatients from the time killer nurse Victorino Chua was working at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.

John Pollard will also consider resuming inquests into the deaths of three others - Alfred Weaver, Tracey Ardern and Arnold Lancaster - which had formed part of the criminal indictment against Chua.

Eleven more deaths at Stepping Hill Hospital are to be investigated following the conviction of killer nurse Victorino Chua.

South Manchester coroner John Pollard is set to publicly examine the deaths of 11 people - none of whom have been named.

In a statement, Stockport NHS Trust said the coroner had been unable to undertake inquests into these deaths at the time of the police investigation and trial.

"The 11 deaths that the coroner is now investigating are therefore relating to patients who were inpatients at the hospital over this period."

Victorino Chua, the nurse who was jailed for 35 years for murdering two patients and poisoning another 19, has continued to maintain his innocence, despite being convicted.

In a statement released through his solicitors, Chua said "I am completely innocent of any wrong doing".

The NHS nurse who murdered two of his patients and poisoned 20 more, was jailed for at least 35 years. The judge described Victorino Chua as 'sinister and wicked'. Detectives said he showed no remorse for the crimes he committed at Stockport's Stepping Hill Hospital. After the hefty sentence was handed down, one of his victim's told ITV News: 'I hate his guts'.

ITV News correspondent Damon Green reports from the court in Manchester:

Victorino Chua failed to show any remorse for murdering and poisoning patients at Stepping Hill Hospital, police say.

Chua, 49, was jailed for at least 35 years, meaning he will not be considered for parole until he is in his mid 80s.

Speaking after sentencing, Detective Superintendent Simon Barraclough said: "He's consistently failed to show any form of emotion during this process and any form of remorse for what he's done.

"And in fact even through the lengthy process of sentencing this morning, there was not a flicker of emotion on his face apart from what appeared to be a general contempt for all the proceedings on going."

The brother of a woman who died after being poisoned by Victorino Chua says a minimum 35-year jail term will ensure the nurse "will never be able to harm anyone again".

Gary Arden's sister Tracey, 44, died after Chua injected insulin into saline bags and ampoules at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, in 2011.

The sister of one of Victorino Chua's victims says she is "delighted" the "evil" nurse has been jailed for a minimum of 35 years.

"We're delighted at the verdict.. we can all have closure, it's been a dreadful, dreadful experience," Derek Weaver's sister, Lynda Bleasdale, said outside Manchester Crown Court.

Asked how she felt about Chua, Ms Bleasdale said: "I think he's so evil, he obviously enjoyed seeing people suffer."

Ms Bleasdale also paid tribute to police and prosecutors who helped convict the 49-year-old.

Sentencing nurse Victorino Chua to a minimum of 35 years in prison, the judge said the nurse had shown "considerable cunning" when he poisoned and killed patients at Stepping Hill Hospital.

ITV News' Damon Green was at Manchester Crown Court to hear the judge's remarks:

Victorino Chua, the "Killer Angel" nurse who killed two of his patients and poisoned 19 others, has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The 49-year-old showed no reaction during the sentencing.

The Philippine-born nurse killed Tracey Arden, 44, and Derek Weaver, 83, at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport by injecting insulin into saline bags and ampoules. in June and and July 2011.

Other nurses then unwittingly used the contaminated bags on Chua's victims, who were mostly elderly patients.

Chua was described as a "narcissistic psychopath" by detectives after he was convicted following a three-month trial.