Care home manager denies murder of two elderly residents

A care home manager accused of murdering two residents said today that she had regarded the elderly people she looked after as "my family" and had always tried to make sure they were "loved". Rachel Baker admitted that she became dependent on painkillers and had diverted drugs from residents to feed her own needs. She also admitted falsifying records to cover her tracks and lying to police. But she denied murdering Frances Hay, 85, and Lucy Cox, 97, by giving them overdoses while they were in her care at the Parkfields care home near Glastonbury, Somerset. The trial, at Bristol crown court, heard that 44-year-old Baker was prescribed painkillers for migraines and became dependent on controlled drugs. When her doctor stopped the prescriptions she began to steal drugs from Parkfields residents. It is alleged that, in order to top up her supply, she would exaggerate or make up symptoms so that drugs some residents did not need were prescribed and would take those too. At the start of her defence Baker's counsel, Richard Smith QC, asked her how she felt about herself. She replied she was "appalled, disgusted, ashamed" at what she had put her family through and had betrayed the trust of those who had supported her. She said she had thought she was a "good nurse", adding: "I did the best I could, always. It was a job I loved. It was my life." Baker, who has an eight-year-old daughter, said she had considered the elderly people in her care to be her family in the years when she was childless. "I substituted my residents as my family. I dedicated my life to them," she added. She said it had been difficult for her to become a nurse, but she had been determined to achieve in order to make her father proud of her. When she got the opportunity to run Parkfields, she said she wanted to make it a "good place". But she admitted she had struggled to cope after her GP stopped prescribing pethadine for her migraines. At the same time, she felt she had "no support" running the home. "I tried my hardest," she told the jury. "The most important thing for me was that the residents were comfortable, cared for and loved." Baker has admitted a string of counts of possessing controlled drugs. The trial continues.