Adapted from BMJ 9-16 Dec 2023
Vincent Marks was a pioneering researcher into insulin and hypoglycaemia who became an important expert witness in cases against nurse Beverly Allitt, who was convicted of several child murders, and Claus Von Bulow, who was acquitted of the attempted murder of his wife.
Vincent Marks was born in 1930 and died of metastatic thyroid cancer in 2023.
The Von Bulow case centred around the cause of the coma suffered by his wife, Sunny. She spent 27 years in a coma prior to her death. It was alleged that her husband had injected her with insulin. She had considerable wealth compared to him. The “sleeping beauty murder” was the first major trial to be televised. Events were described in the book, Reversal of Fortune, and a film starring Jeremy Irons and Glen Close followed. Jeremy received an Oscar for his performance.
Vincent was a professor of clinical biochemistry and head of clinical biochemistry and metabolic medicine in Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford. His laboratory was the first to offer insulin assays to NHS hospitals throughout the UK.
A sample from Nottingham revealed that children had low blood sugar and high insulin levels and this revealed the deliberate harm done to children by nurse Beverly Allitt.
Vincent was the first to develop a method to accurately measure blood sugar at low concentrations. Up until then some patients had been given erroneous diagnoses of neurological disorders when they really had hypoglycaemia.
In 1995 Vincent retired from clinical medicine in order to devote his time to teaching medical students and post-graduates. He published widely including Insulin Murders, which spanned 50 years of legal cases.
Vincent was born in a London pub which was owned by his father. He had an elder brother John, who also became a doctor. During the war, he was evacuated to a farm in Devon. Although brought up in Judaism, he became a Humanist.
His wife Averil and he were married for 66 years, had two children, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
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