A British nurse was found guilty of murdering seven newborn babies and trying to murder six others at the hospital neonatal unit where she worked, becoming the UK’s most prolific killer of children.
Lucy Letby, 33, on trial since last October was accused of injecting her young victims, who were either sick or born prematurely, with air, overfeeding them milk, and poisoning them with insulin. The jury at Manchester Crown Court in northern England reached all of its verdicts after deliberating for 22 days.
A UK-born Indian-origin consultant pediatrician at a hospital in northern England is among those who raised concerns and helped convict the nurse found guilty of killing seven babies. Dr. Ravi Jayaram, from the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, said some of those lives could have been saved if his concerns about former nurse colleague Lucy Letby had been heeded and the police alerted sooner.
Eventually, it was in April 2017 that the National Health Service (NHS) trust allowed doctors to meet with a police officer. “The police, after listening to us for less than 10 minutes, realized that this was something that they had to be involved with. I could have punched the air,” said Dr Jayaram. Shortly afterward, an investigation was launched that would lead to Letby’s arrest.
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told the court that Letby used a variety of methods to secretly attack a total of 13 babies in the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016. During her trial, which began in October last year, Manchester Crown Court heard that doctors at the hospital began to notice a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying or were unexpectedly collapsing.
The CPS presented evidence of Letby using various methods to attack babies, including the injection of air and insulin into their bloodstream; the infusion of air into their gastrointestinal tract; force-feeding an overdose of milk or fluids; impact-type trauma. Her intention was to kill the babies while deceiving her colleagues into believing there was a natural cause, the jury was told.
Letby was first arrested in July 2018 and subsequently charged in November 2020.
Jonathan Storer, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Mersey-Cheshire, added: “This is an utterly horrifying case. Like everyone who followed the trial, I have been appalled by Letby’s callous crimes.”
“To the families of the victims – I hope your unimaginable suffering is eased in some way by the verdicts. Our thoughts remain with you.” Among the mountain of evidence presented in court were many handwritten notes discovered by police during their investigation. They included phrases such as: “I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them”; “I am evil I did this”; and “Today is your birthday and you are not here and I am so sorry for that”. These notes gave an insight into Letby’s mindset following her attacks, the court was told.
The CPS was able to show the jury that Letby was the one common denominator in the series of deaths and sudden collapses in the neonatal unit. Besides, medical documents featuring falsified notes made by the nurse to hide her involvement and social media activity to deceive her colleagues were among the other pieces of evidence presented in court.
The Cheshire Constabulary, which investigated the case, said it had been one of the toughest cases for them.
(With inputs from agencies)
