A British nurse is set to be sentenced on Monday after being found guilty of murdering seven newborn babies and attempting to kill six others while they were under her care. The nurse, Lucy Letby, 33, has been dubbed the UK’s most prolific child serial killer in modern history.
Letby was arrested following a series of baby deaths at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between June 2015 and June 2016. The prosecution revealed that Letby attacked her young, often premature victims by injecting them with air, overfeeding them with milk, or poisoning them with insulin.
After a trial that began in October, the jury at Manchester Crown Court reached their verdicts on Friday, finding Letby guilty of five counts of murder. However, she was cleared of two counts of attempted murder, and a decision could not be reached on the remaining six counts. The guilty verdicts mean that Letby may never be released from prison.
During the trial, Letby displayed signs of emotion as the guilty decisions were handed down, but she was absent from court during the final verdict.
The families of Letby’s victims, who had been hoping for a different outcome on some of the counts, issued a joint statement expressing their mixed emotions.
In response to the case, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak criticized the fact that perpetrators of such heinous crimes often do not face their victims. Opposition leader Keir Starmer pledged to close the legal loophole if elected to government.
The judge is expected to deliver the sentence on Monday afternoon.
While the families acknowledged that justice was served, they emphasized the ongoing pain, anger, and distress caused by Letby’s actions. For some families, the trial verdicts did not meet their expectations.
The hospital where the crimes occurred has also faced scrutiny. Letby’s first alleged victims were twins, and the hospital management has been criticized for failing to take action after concerns were raised by senior doctors as early as 2015.
Letby’s motives for the crimes remain unclear. The prosecution described her as a calculating individual who deceived her colleagues into believing that the increasing number of baby deaths was merely a coincidence. Letby showed an unusual interest in the families of her victims, even searching for them on social media. She sent a sympathy card to the parents of a child she was later found guilty of murdering.
Notes found at Letby’s home, including one that said “I am evil I did this,” were presented as evidence during the trial. Letby maintained her innocence throughout the proceedings.
The UK government has announced an independent inquiry into the case to examine how the hospital management handled the concerns raised by clinicians.