UK nurse convicted of murdering 7 vulnerable infants under her care
3 Min Read
The serial killer, who has been described as persistent, calculated, and cold-blooded, has been convicted of killing seven children and attempting to murder another six.
-
Susan and John Letby, parents of Lucy Letby, a British nurse convicted of killing seven babies at the hospital maternity unit where she worked, arrive at the Manchester Crown Court, in Manchester, United Kingdom, August 15, 2023. (AFP)
A British neonatal nurse has been found guilty of killing seven babies and attempting to kill another six newborns.
The serial killer, Lucy Letby, 33, has been convicted of the "persistent, calculated, and cold-blooded" murder of infants in the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England.
The nurse took the lives of two identical triplet brothers, who were killed within 24 hours of each other, a newborn baby, fatally injected with air, and a girl born 10 weeks prematurely who Letby murdered after three failed attempts.
The parents of the infant victims wept in the public gallery as the verdicts were delivered in the Manchester crown court over several days. The families of the victims stressed, although justice had been served, that no sentence would "take away from the extreme hurt, anger, and distress that we have all had to experience."
Janet Moore, a Cheshire police officer, read out a statement from a victim's parents which said, "Some families did not receive the verdict that they expected and therefore it is a bittersweet result. We are heartbroken, devastated, angry, and feel numb. We may never truly know why this happened."
Letby's mother was heard crying out loud saying "You cannot be serious. This cannot be right," as the court read out the later verdicts while her daughter refused to attend the proceedings.
The assailant carried out the murders when she was in her mid-20s and is set to be the third woman alive in Britain to serve a life term. Letby has also become the worst child serial killer in modern British history, according to The Guardian.
Letby horrifically shattered the diaphragm of several babies and pushed a breathing tube down the throat of another. In some cases, the nurse shockingly stuffed insulin into the feeding bags of two infants between June 2015 and June 2016.
The serial killer was reported to police in 2017 and arrested in 2018 by authorities; her trial is one of the longest ongoing trials taking around five years to complete.
"Lucy Letby was operating in plain sight. She abused the trust of the people around her. Not just the parents that had entrusted her with their babies but also the nurses she worked with and the people that she regarded as friends," DCI Nicola Evans, of Cheshire Constabulary stated.
A senior prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, Pascale Jones, said Letby’s crimes were a "complete betrayal" of the trust placed in her.
"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."
