A nurse convicted of murdering four patients and trying to kill a fifth will not be allowed to appeal to the supreme court, judges have ruled. Colin Campbell, 49, was jailed for life in 2008 for killing Doris Ludlam, Bridget Bourke, Irene Crookes and Ethel Hall on orthopaedic wards in hospitals in Leeds. Campbell’s trial was told he was on the scene at the time of each incident, or in the immediate aftermath, and it was suggested he had injected the patients. However, three court of appeal judges – Lady Justice Macur, Sir Stephen Irwin and Mr Justice Picken – rejected Campbell’s application to take his case to the supreme court. The decision to block an application to the supreme court ends a series of unsuccessful appeals since Campbell was convicted during his five-month trial at Newcastle crown court in 2008.