Explained | British nurse Lucy Letby found guilty of killing 7 newborn babies. What did she do?

A British nurse named Lucy Letby has been found guilty of the murder of seven newborns and the attempted murders of six others by the Manchester Crown Court on Friday (August 18), said the local police department. The verdict brings an end to the years-long case which has haunted England since the string of deaths in the neonatal unit where the nurse worked, first came to light nearly seven years ago.

What was she found guilty of?

Letby, 33, has been convicted of killing five baby boys and two baby girls at the Countess of Chester hospital, where she often worked night shifts, in 2015 and 2016. She was also found guilty of attacking six other newborns in the neonatal unit.

During the trial, the jury was told that Letby poisoned some of her infant victims by injecting them with insulin and others were injected with air or force-fed milk, sometimes involving multiple attacks before they died. However, she has denied those accusations.

The 33-year-old faced a total of 22 charges. However, Letby was found not guilty of two counts of attempted murder.The jury also could not reach a decisionon six charges of attempted murder.

The verdict, following a 10-month trial at Manchester Crown Court, makes Letby one of Britain’s most prolific serial child killers. Notably, it was also the longest murder trial in British legal history. Jurors reportedly deliberated for 110 hours and 26 minutes.

It was also found that Letby, who was first charged in 2020, also attacked twins – in one case she murdered both siblings. Additionally, she also tried to kill one baby girl three times before finally succeeding on the fourth attempt.

“Lucy Letby was entrusted to protect some of the most vulnerable babies. Little did those working alongside her know that there was a murderer in their midst,” said Pascale Jones, a senior prosecutor from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

He added, “She did her utmost to conceal her crimes, by varying the ways in which she repeatedly harmed babies in her care.” Letby was arrested in 2018 and 2019 in relation to the investigation, but not charged until after a criminal investigation by the Cheshire police.

Years-long investigation

The CPS argues she secretly attacked 13 babies in the neonatal ward of the hospital and her intention was to kill the babies while making her colleagues believe that the deaths occurred due to natural causes.

Letby’s actions first came to light after senior doctors became concerned about the rise in the number of unexplained deaths and collapses at the neonatal unit – where premature or sick babies are treated – over the course of 18 months starting in January 2015.

This prompted the hospital to begin an investigation in 2016. An independent review published in 2017, found no definitive explanation. However, the report did note significant gaps in staffing, poor decision-making in the unit and an insufficient number of senior staff members.

Since the doctors were unable to find a medical reason, the police were called in and after a lengthy investigation, it was found that Letby had been involved in the care of the babies.

During the trial, prosecutor Nick Johnson, called her a “constant malevolent presence when things took a turn for the worse.”

It was also found that one of the victim’s mothers walked in on her attacking her twin babies and Letby told her, “Trust me, I’m a nurse.”

The police also found paperwork and medical notes with references to the babies she murdered. She also carried out social media searches for the parents and families of the murdered babies.

‘I am evil, I did it’ note

During a search operation of her house, police found a handwritten note with the message ‘I AM EVIL, I DID THIS’.

When asked about this by defence barrister Ben Meyers KC, Letby reasoned, “because I felt at the time I had done something wrong and I thought I’m such an awful, evil person…that I had made mistakes and not known.”

The nurse said she thought “that somehow I had been incompetent and I had done something wrong to affect these babies. I felt I must be responsible in some way.”

The prosecution has described her as a cold, cruel, calculating liar who had repeatedly changed her account of events. They also called for her notes to be treated as a confession.

However, detectives involved in the case, during the trial said that they could not find any motive for why she had become a killer and did not find anything unusual about her life.

“The only person that can answer that...is Lucy Letby herself,” said Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes who led the investigation.

Letby defends herself

The British nurse, over the course of the trial, repeatedly said she never tried to hurt the babies and wanted to care for them.

She also went on to blame the unsafe staffing levels on the ward and its dirty conditions which may have contributed to the babies’ death. Letby also claimed four doctors had conspired to blame her for the hospital’s failings and maintained her innocence.

“I have never murdered a child or harmed any of them,” said Letby.

Sentencing and further investigations

Letby will be sentenced on Monday (August 21) and is set to face a long prison term, and possibly a rare full life sentence.

The British police are still carrying out further investigations into Letby’s entire career as a nurse where she worked at the hospital as well as another one in Liverpool where she had trained, to find any other victims.

Hughes says police are reviewing all 4,000 admissions of babies into neonatal units at the two hospitals where Letby worked between 2012 and 2016. However, it does not mean they are “investigating all 4,000,” he added.

“It just means that we are committed to a thorough review of every admission from a medical perspective, to ensure that nothing is missed throughout the entirety of her employment as a nurse,” said the detective.

UK govt calls for investigation into case

The UK government has also called for an independent inquiry into the “circumstances behind the murders and attempted murders of babies” at the hospital to “ensure families get the answers they need”.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE