Lucy Letby, a neonatal nurse found guilty of murdering seven babies, has now been found guilty of the attempted murder of a two-hour-old newborn baby girl referred to as Baby K.
Letby is said to have dislodged the baby’s breathing tube and then stood over her, watching as her blood oxygen levels dropped. Consultant pediatrician Dr. Ravi Jayaram entered the room in the midst of this, caught her red-handed, and quickly intervened to save Baby K’s life. Letby told the jury of six women and six men that she had no recollection of the occurrence.
Baby K was transferred to another hospital later that same day due to her prematurity. She died three days later and her cause of death was determined to be extreme prematurity and severe respiratory distress syndrome.
Later, Letby searched the internet for information on Baby K — a disturbing habit of hers.
“The truth is that Lucy Letby had a fascination with the babies she had murdered and attempted to murder, and with their families,” prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said. “She took pleasure in her murderous handiwork.”
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When the verdict was read, Baby K’s parents sobbed in court and said they were “heartbroken, devastated, angry and feel numb.” Detective Inspector Andrea Price delivered a statement on their behalf outside of the courthouse.
“To lose a baby is a heartbreaking experience that no parent should ever go through, but to lose a baby and then learn of the harm that was inflicted in these circumstances is unimaginable,” read the statement. “Over the past seven to eight years we have to had to go through a long, torturous and emotional journey twice from losing our precious newborn and grieving her loss to being told years later that her death or collapse might be suspicious. Nothing prepares you for that news. Today, justice has been served and a nurse who should have been caring for our daughter has been found guilty of harming her, but this justice will not take away the extreme hurt, anger and distress that we have all had to experience.”
In 2020, Letby was charged with the murder of eight premature babies as well as the attempted murder of 10 others. While working at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, England between 2015 and 2016, Letby killed her victims by injecting them with insulin or air. Her youngest victim was just one day old and was killed within 30 minutes of the beginning of Letby’s shift.
Letby was sentenced to life in prison in 2023, though she did not attend her sentencing at which the families of her victims read impact statements. The judge then ordered the statements to be delivered to her.
“In the corridor, I could immediately hear crying,” the mother of two of her victims said. “It felt more than crying. It was screaming. It was screaming. And I was like, what happened? What’s the matter with him? I walked into the room, seen it was my boy, and he had blood ’round his mouth. And Lucy was there, faffing about [doing things in a disorganized fashion].”
After Letby killed one of the woman’s twins, the surviving twin quickly began doing poorly as well. “I said to my husband, ‘Please not again, we can’t do this again,’” she said. “’This can’t be happening.’ It’s almost bang on 24 hours since our other son had died. So I went, and I sat with him all night.” Though he survived, he has severe learning disabilities and “complex needs,” which his mother believes is from Letby’s attempted murder.
