A nurse who drugged patients on a hospital stroke unit for an “easy life” and to “exercise contemptuous power” has been jailed for seven years and two months. Catherine Hudson illegally sedated two patients at Blackpool Victoria hospital and conspired with a junior colleague, Charlotte Wilmot, 48, to sedate a third. Wilmot was sentenced to three years. Police were alerted by hospital bosses in November 2018 after a student nurse on a work placement said Hudson, 54, suggested administering unprescribed zopiclone, a sleeping pill, to an elderly patient, Aileen Scott. The whistleblower was further troubled when Hudson commented: “Well, she’s got a DNAR [do not attempt resuscitation order] in place so she wouldn’t be opened up if she died or like if it came to any harm.” She was said to be “shocked” when Hudson then took a strip of zopiclone from her tunic pocket and administered the sedative. Zopiclone – a class C controlled drug – was potentially life-threatening if given inappropriately to acutely unwell patients, Preston crown court heard. Wilmot, who was also found guilty of encouraging the “lead offender” Hudson to ill-treat another patient in her care, was imprisoned for three years. Judge Altham, honorary recorder of Preston, said: “The offences of ill-treatment were committed by these defendants whose duty was to protect and care for them. The patients were as vulnerable as anyone could be. These defendants exploited them for an easy shift, for amusement and to exercise contemptuous power over them.” He said the whistleblowing nurse, who the prosecution had requested not be named, should be commended for her actions. He said: “It was only as a result of her courage and sense of public duty that what was happening on the ward was exposed and stopped.” Scott was given zopiclone after suffering a stroke in 2018 that caused the left side of her body to be paralysed. The 76-year-old’s son, Brian Scott, who said his mother was not fit enough to attend court, described Hudson as “pure evil” in his victim personal statement on Wednesday. Turning directly to Hudson in the dock, Scott said: “The way you spoke about them is beyond belief and nothing short of wicked and pure evil. “To this day my mum is fearful about going into hospital. Why? Because of the treatment she received by Catherine Hudson and others at Blackpool. “This will haunt us for the rest of our lives.” The prosecutors said the ward created “a culture of abuse”, after police investigated WhatsApp messages between the two defendants and other healthcare professionals on the ward. In one message, Hudson wrote: “What a lovely day I have had in blue bay today. Sedated all the troublemakers lol xxx.” In another she said: “I sedated one of them to within an inch of her life lol. Bet she’s flat for a week haha xxx.” Another message about a patient said: “I’m going to kill bed 5 xxx.” To which Wilmot responded: “Pmsl [pissing myself laughing] well tonight sedate him to high heaven lol xxx.” Hudson and Wilmot said while giving evidence that the messages were “banter” and not meant in that way. They said it was a space for them to air frustration regarding their understaffed department. Detective chief constable Jill Johnston from Lancashire police said: “For a loved one to enter hospital is often a difficult and worrying time for their relatives. For two nurses to behave this way is sickening. “Hudson’s offending was particularly calculated, all while portraying herself as a role model nurse. This could not be further from the truth.”