In a shocking case that has sent shockwaves throughout the United Kingdom, Lucy Letby, a British nurse was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering seven babies while on duty at Chester Hospital in northwest England between June 2015 and June 2016.
Deemed as United Kingdom’s most prolific child killer, Lucy Letby, aged 33 was convicted of
murdering 5 boys and 2 girls by injecting sick or premature babies with sir, overfeeding them
with milk or poisoning them with insulin. After more than 110 hours of deliberations, a jury at
Manchester Crown Court ended the trial that first begun in October by describing Letby as a
‘calculative’ woman who left little trace to her killings.
The nurse was arrested after records of continuous baby deaths at the neonatal unit of the Countless of Chester Hospital in England between a span of 1 year (June 2015 and June 2016) where Letby was entrusted with the job of taking care of vulnerable infants. After noticing death of babies placed in Letby’s shift who managed to gaslight her colleagues into believing that the babies died primarily of bad luck, hospital workers and colleagues raised an alarm after realising that some of the infants were killed right after their parents left them with Lucy.
The Letby Trial
A Jury at Manchester Crown Court acquitted Letby of 2 counts of attempted murder, however
the court it was unable to declare verdicts on 6 other attempts of murder. But the multiple guilty
verdicts issued against Letby indicate higher chances of never being released from jail upon
conviction. Letby reportedly refused to attend her legal sentencing as the court finally concluded
the trial on friday after it was first commenced in October last year. Previously arrested and
released twice, Lucy was finally arrested in 2020 after which she was taken into custody and
has been facing charges since then.
Barrister Ben Myers, who defended Letby in the court described her as a hard working and
deeply committed worker who would not have done anything to hurt the infants left under her
surveillance. He argued that the neonatal unit was stretched beyond the limits and was
equipped with less staff and pointed out that the deaths of the babies were caused by poor
health. They also blamed 4 senior doctors for falsely accusing Letby of the murder when in
reality they wanted to cover up for the hospital’s failure of saving infants from poor health
conditions.
Execution Of Murder
Letby is last known to have murdered two triplet boys. Both the boys were killed within a span of
one day. While Letby killed one of the brother’s after returning from a holiday in Ibiza, the other
brother got killed a day later. While she also attempted to murder the third sibling, the jury failed
to reach a conclusion on the charges. The police managed to retrieve a handwritten note from
Lucy’s house which read “ I am evil, I did this” which was later found to be written by her after
being put on clerical duties following the death of 2 triplets under her care.
