A senior nurse has been charged with murdering three women patients at Airedale Hospital.

The nurse, 51-year-old Anne Grigg-Booth, formerly of Farling Top, Cowling, has also been charged with the attempted murder of a 42-year-old man.

She is facing a further 13 charges of administering noxious substances to other patients between 2001 and 2003.

Her arrest follows an inquiry into the deaths of three women, aged 96, 75 and 67, who had allegedly received deadly doses of morphine after being admitted to the Steeton hospital.

Grigg-Booth will appear before Bingley magistrates on October 12.

She has been a nurse for 30 years and it is understood she worked as night co-ordinator at Airedale Hospital.

She was suspended on full pay following her arrest in March, last year. Police launched an investigation into several deaths at the beginning of 2003 after a routine audit raised concerns among health chiefs.

After studying the records of the 96-year-old woman they notified police, who started a major investigation.

Grigg-Booth was initially arrested by the police investigating the suspicious death of the 96-year-old woman at the hospital.

She was subsequently suspended by Airedale NHS Trust and has not worked at the hospital since, although she remains employed by the trust.

Det Supt Phil Sedgwick is heading a special team working from an incident room at Keighley Police Station

Detectives and representatives from the hospital have visited dozens of relatives and former patients as part of their inquiries, and the investigation continues.

A main task was to get permission to look at confidential files of patients. It was as a result of those inquries that detailed inquries were made into other deaths.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman added: "In relation to this investigation, three other people were arrested earlier this year, two women, both aged 52, and one man, aged 56."

Files on that investigation have been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration.

The offences alleged against the three, who are on police bail, are understood to relate to administrative procedures and are not connected to any of the deaths.

Robert Allen, chief executive of Airedale NHS Trust, said: "We are unable to say anything further about the latest details of the police inquiry. However, we have been working closely with the police throughout their investigation and will continue to do so."

He added: "This person has not worked at Airedale General Hospital since February 2003."

Grigg-Booth, who is believed to be the daughter of a policeman and once married to a nurse at Skipton Hospital, moved to a terrace house just off the M65, in Nelson, Lancashire, where she lives alone with her two cats.