CRIME
Lucy Letby Trial: What to Know About the Nurse Convicted of Murdering 7 Infants in U.K. Hospital
Nurse Lucy Letby, one of the U.K.'s most prolific child killers, was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder six others in August 2023
It's a case almost too terrible to be real. Nurse Lucy Letby has been convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder six others as a neonatal nurse at Chester Hospital in Cheshire, England. She was sentenced to life in prison and is considered one of the most prolific child killers in United Kingdom history.
Letby was found guilty of killing seven infants — five boys and two girls — while they were in her care in the neonatal unit of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016. She faced a total of 22 charges related to those deaths as well as the attempted murder of 10 more infants. During her trial, which began in October 2022, several colleagues testified to witnessing unusual behavior from the former nurse. She was eventually convicted of 14 of those possible 22 counts.
According to several media outlets, Letby is currently seeking permission to file an appeal against her convictions.
In one instance of attempted murder, Letby tried to murder an infant, referred to as Child G, while the baby's assigned nurse was on a break. Under Letby's care, expert witness Dr. Dewi Evans testified the baby received "far more milk" than prescribed, and that the overfeeding couldn't have been an accident but was an "intent to harm," per the BBC. That baby survived, but seven others did not.
In another instance, when an infant was in distress, Letby "told off" a coworker who attempted to assist. "I was shocked because you can't have enough help in that situation," Lisa Walker testified, according to the BBC. "[I was] quite taken aback and shocked because it's something you would not expect a nurse to say."
Letby pleaded not guilty to all 22 charges. The prosecution presented handwritten notes found in Letby's home, in which she describes herself as a "horrible evil person" and says she "killed them on purpose." But other notes purportedly proclaimed her innocence. "I haven't done anything wrong and they have no evidence so why have I had to hide away?" the notes read.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, that in a nutshell is your task in this case," prosecutor Nick Johnson told the jury when he presented the evidence in February 2023. "Whether or not she did these dreadful things is the decision you will have to make when you have heard all the evidence."
In May 2023, Letby took the stand in her own defense, telling the jury that she meant no harm during her time working at the Countess of Chester Hospital. "I only ever did my best to care for them," Letby said of the babies in her care. "That's completely against everything that being a nurse is. I am there to care not to harm."
Later that month, Letby claimed in court that the infant deaths could be related to alleged plumbing issues in the hospital.
"We used to have raw sewage coming out of the sinks [and] coming out on the floor in nursery one," she alleged, also claiming that staff being unable to wash their hands could be "a contributory issue."
However, when prosecutor Nick Johnson delivered his closing arguments in June 2023, he said that Letby used lethal air injection on at least 12 of her alleged victims. Johnson claimed air injection was "one of her favorite ways of killing or trying to kill children in this case."
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