Following her conviction last week for the murder of seven newborns and the attempted murder of another six at the UK hospital where she worked, a British nurse is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court in northern England found Lucy Letby, 33, guilty in a case that appalled the nation and branded her the most prolific child serial murderer in recent memory.
According to testimony given in court on Friday, Letby physically assaulted the infants in her care and injected air into their blood and stomachs, overfed them with milk, poisoned them with insulin, and overfed them with air.
There were concerns about how Letby was able to avoid detection for so long after the accusations against her and her conviction, which led to a government investigation.
She surreptitiously attacked 13 newborns on the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester hospital between 2015 and 2016, according to a statement released on Friday by the British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The prosecution contended that Letby planned to murder the infants while deceiving her coworkers into thinking there was a natural cause of death.
Parents of the victims gave heartbreaking testimony in front of the Manchester court throughout the trial, including in one instance where Letby attempted to kill a baby boy after killing his twin brother.
While testifying in court, the mother of Children E and F stated that she “completely” believed Letby’s counsel.
When her infant Child E began to wail in the intensive care unit one night, she claimed she “knew there was something wrong” and that she immediately felt better.
It was discovered that when Letby attempted to assault Child E, he began bleeding before she killed him. The twin of that infant, Child F, later lived through an attempt by Letby to poison him with insulin. Additionally, it was disclosed that police had discovered several handwritten messages by Letby, one of which read: “I am evil I did this.”
Letby was twice detained by police in connection with their probe in 2018 and 2019, according to PA. In November 2020, she was detained once more.
During inspections of Letby’s residence, authorities discovered the notes she had written.
“I’m not worthy of life. She wrote in one memo, “I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them,” and in another, “I am a terrible evil person,” adding in big letters, “I am evil I did this.”
On Friday, the UK government released an independent investigation into the killings, which covered how authorities and the country’s National Health Service handled consultants’ concerns.
According to testimony given in court in Manchester, hospital staff noticed an increase in the frequency of infants dying or suddenly collapsing in the neonatal unit.
The UK’s PA Media news agency stated that the hospital’s management originally disregarded clinicians’ warnings over the elevated mortality rate of patients under Letby’s care.
According to attorneys representing the relatives of the victims, the probe is “not good enough” because it lacks the authority to call witnesses, PA said.
Letby won a grievance lawsuit against her employers in 2016 after learning of their first accusations.
She was supposed to visit the neonatal unit again in March 2017, but that didn’t happen. The police were informed by the hospital trust, and they started an inquiry.