A SENIOR nurse at Airedale General Hospital has been charged with the murder of three elderly women patients.

The charges follow a long-running investigation into a series of suspicious deaths at the Steeton hospital.

Ann Grigg-Booth, 51, had been suspended on full pay since March 2003.

She is believed to be the woman charged with murdering a 96-year-old, a 75-year-old and a 67-year-old.

Grigg-Booth, who is believed to have now moved away from the Keighley area where she was living, has also been charged with the attempted murder of a 42-year-old man and 13 charges of administering noxious substances to other hospital patients.

Grigg-Booth has been released on police bail and will appear before Bingley Magistrates on October 13.

She held a supervisory role at the hospital and is believed to have worked there for a number of years.

Three other people quizzed in connection with the investigation, two women aged 52 and a 56-year-old man, have had files on their cases sent to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration.

The three remain on police bail.