A nurse has been removed from the register after bringing weighted steel balls and a large pair of scissors to a shift at a care home and making racist comments to colleagues.
Belinda Ellams, from Ellesmere Port, was reprimanded by a panel of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) earlier this month for actions taken at Millbrow Care Home, Widnes, following the Southport stabbings in July 2024.
Racist comments recorded by staff
The panel heard that, in the days after the attack, Ms Ellams told colleagues: "the Muslims are coming", "the Muslims are building an army to kill all white people", and "we need to be ready for the Muslims when they come".
The comments were recorded in contemporaneous notes by staff. Another note read: "Belinda said 'm**** basher' quite a lot."
Speaking about the Southport stabbings, Ms Ellams told a colleague "the culprit was a radicalised Muslim" and "we are gathering an army".
Weapons brought to work
The panel found that days later, on August 4, Ms Ellams took weighted steel balls and a large pair of scissors to work, and showed a colleague how the balls could be used to cause injury.
She ranted about riots in Southport, about Muslims, and about the police, before handing a female colleague a pair of sharpened nail scissors described by a colleague as being "like a shiv", and said she should take them "in case the m***** come".
During that same shift, she told a colleague to make sure all the doors of the care home were locked "in case a Muslim gets in".
Facebook post and panel decision
The day after the Southport stabbing, Ms Ellams took to Facebook to share an offensive image with the caption: "Are you ready to face reality yet? The Government will not help you.
"They are just allowing the illegal migrants in. They do not care about your lives or your children's lives."
The panel heard the mocked-up image showed four bearded men in traditional Muslim clothing running toward a young blond child wearing a Union Jack t-shirt. One of the men was shown holding a knife above his head.
The panel found Ms Ellams' conduct was "exceptionally serious and incompatible with the standards expected of a registered nurse". Her name was struck from the NMC's register.
In a statement provided to the NMC panel, Ms Ellams, who was employed via an agency, said: "I have served my community to the best of my ability for 23 and a half years. I have found it to be both a privilege and a joy to be able to have cared for so many wonderful patients and their families.
"I deny all the allegations against me and I am absolutely appalled by them and how I have been treated. I felt that leaving nursing was the only option left to me because I could no longer continue to work in such a toxic environment."
