I TOLD THE COPS 25 YEARS AGO...

Daughter slams hospital probe wait | Hundreds died due to opioid use

- ADAM ASPINALL and NICK SOMMERLAD

A DAUGHTER who suspected her mother died because of drugs she was given at a hospital in the 1990s has slammed the length of time it has taken police to launch a probe.

Gillian Mackenzie, 88, raised the alarm after Gladys Richards died at Gosport War Memorial Hospital, Hants, in 1998 and is among many bereaved relatives who fear they will never see justice done.

She said: "It's been 25 years since I went to the police with my concerns about the hospital, I was the first one to go to them. I don't think I shall even be alive when this goes to court."

Police yesterday revealed they are looking into 19 suspects after a damning report found hundreds of patients had their lives shortened through the use of opioids at the hospital.

Mrs Mackenzie, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, insists her mother, 91, was not dying when she was admitted for two weeks of rehabilitation after hip surgery.

She said: "My mother was mobile, walking, and not on drugs when she was discharged from Haslar Hospital and went to Gosport War Memorial. I knew that they were not appropriate drugs for my mother.

"The drugs that they gave her were for palliative care.