British nurse killed at least 7 babies: life sentence

A neonatologist nurse has been found guilty of killing seven babies and attempting to kill six more, making her the worst child serial killer in modern British history and raising burning questions about whether her crimes could have been stopped.

According to The Guardian, Lucy Letby, 33, was convicted of the “persistent, calculated and cold-blooded” murder of five premature boys and two newborn girls in the department where she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the north-west of England.

When ministers ordered an independent inquiry into how Letby was able to carry out her horrific killing campaign, a source told The Guardian that he thought the children would have been saved if hospital management had acted sooner to concerns about the nurse.

Dr. Stephen Breary, who first alerted executives to Lucy Letby’s connection to the unusual deaths and collapses, said he believes bosses were “negligent” in not contacting the police earlier.

Letby was in her 20s when she preyed on particularly vulnerable babies between June 2015 and June 2016, often attacking them moments after their parents or nurses left them. In 2017, the police were finally contacted and she was arrested in 2018.

Among her victims were two identical triplets killed 24 hours apart, a newborn weighing less than 1 kg who was lethally injected with air, and a girl born 10 weeks premature, who was killed on the fourth attempt.

Orphaned parents gasped and wept in the public gallery as verdicts were handed down in Manchester Crown Court for several dramatic days after one of the longest murder trials in recent memory.

Outside of court, the victims’ parents said that justice had been served, but that no conviction “would ever remove the extreme pain, anger and grief that we have all endured.”

Lucy Letby is expected to become only the third woman now living in the UK to be sentenced to life in prison – meaning she will never be released from prison – when she is sentenced on Monday.

Police believe Letby may have harmed more babies in her six-year career as a pediatric nurse. The authorities have launched a helpline where parents can call and report their problems.

Detectives asked experts to examine records of more than 4,000 babies born at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the Countess of Chester’s Hospital, two hospitals where Letby worked between 2010 and 2016.

One mother said Friday night that she believed Lucy Letby attacked her newborn son the day after she filed a complaint about a nurse’s “inappropriate” comment.

Lynsey Artell, who was herself a nurse at the Countess of Chester’s hospital at the time, told Sky News that Letby overheard a conversation about her son’s progress when she said: “I don’t like it when parents flatter themselves because we never know what can happen at this stage.”

Artell says she was “furious” and complained. The next day, she said, her son’s condition suddenly worsened, and his insulin levels skyrocketed – just like in the case of two babies whom Letby was found guilty of poisoning.

The woman said police were investigating her son’s worsening condition but decided not to press charges.

Pascal Jones, senior prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said Letby’s attacks were a “complete betrayal” of the trust placed in her and that she “perverted her knowledge and used her craft as a weapon to cause harm, grief and death.”

Letby refused to return to court to hear later verdicts, but at an earlier hearing she bowed her head and sobbed while her mother, Susan, wept loudly and said, “You can’t be serious. This cannot be.”

Letby was heard at trial killing newborns by injecting air into their tiny bodies, in some cases destroying their diaphragms, or in one case by pushing a tube down the infant’s throat. She tried to kill two babies by pumping them into feeding bags with insulin.

Chief Inspector Nicola Evans of the Cheshire Police described her as a “calculating and heartless” killer who acted “under the guise of trust”. She said: “Lucy Letby acted in front of everyone. She abused the trust of those around her. Not only the parents who entrusted their children to her, but also the nurses she worked with and the people she considered her friends.”

One of the babies was the size of an adult’s hand and weighed just over 535g when she was born 15 weeks premature with a 5% chance of survival. Letby tried to kill the girl twice – the first attempt was made just hours after she and her family celebrated her 100th day of life with a birthday cake, and the second on the day she was due to give birth two weeks later. Letby was found not guilty on the third count of attempted murder against her.

A little girl, known as Child G, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy with paralysis following these attacks. She is now eight, has nothing in her mouth, and needs round-the-clock care.

Her parents gasped as the convictions were returned to the crowded and quiet courtroom. They handed out tissues while relatives of other victims cried and hugged each other.

A mother of twin boys who walked in and saw Letby attack one of her sons leaned over and sobbed as a nurse was found guilty of killing one of her six-day-old babies and attempting to kill his brother the next day.

Verdicts were handed down over several days, but now they can only be reported after the end of the jury’s deliberations, which lasted more than 110 hours over more than four weeks.

Another child was 24 hours old when Letby injected him with air, killing him just 90 minutes after she started her shift. The next day, she tried to kill his twin sister. None of the victims or members of their families can be named for legal reasons, notes The Guardian.

Letby consistently denied the allegations, telling jurors that she was “devastated” by the allegations: “I have always done my best to take care of them. I was here to help and care, not to harm.”

But after a 10-month trial, a jury of seven women and four men found she was responsible for the attacks, which the prosecution described as “persistent, calculating and cold-blooded.”

The parents of two of Letby’s victims said the nurse acted strangely as they spent their final moments with their slaughtered babies.

The mother of the newborn girl, who weighed around 1kg at birth, recalled Letby “smiling” and offering to take pictures as they bathed their daughter. She later sent a condolence card to the family and took a picture of it with her phone.

Another parent told the court that a nurse, whom he believed to be Letby, interrupted their final moments with the little boy, trying to put him on a ventilator designed for dead babies, even though he was still breathing. She allegedly told grieving parents, “You said goodbye. Do you want me to put it here?”

Countess of Chester Hospital Medical Director Dr Nigel Scone said: “We are extremely sorry that these crimes were committed in our hospital and our thoughts remain with all the families and loved ones of the babies who have been hurt or died. Our staff is devastated by what happened and we are committed to ensuring that lessons continue to be learned.”

In total, Letby was convicted of seven counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. The attempted murders involve six babies, as several of them face multiple charges.

The nurse was found not guilty of two counts of attempted murder. The jury was unable to reach verdicts on six more counts of attempted murder involving five infants.

Janet Moore of the Cheshire Police said on behalf of relatives: “Some families didn’t get the verdict they expected and so this is a bittersweet result. We are heartbroken, devastated, angry and numb. We may never truly know why this happened.”