Britain's most prolific child killer Lucy Letby found guilty of attempted murder of another baby
2 July 2024, 15:11 | Updated: 2 July 2024, 18:53
Killer nurse Lucy Letby, has been found guilty of trying to murder a premature baby at the Countess of Chester Hospital in February 2016.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The 34-year-old was convicted by another jury last August of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neo-natal unit between June 2015 and June 2016.
Letby was found guilty after a retrial at Manchester Crown Court. Prosecutors said that Letby had displaced Baby K’s breathing tube and had been caught "virtually red-handed" when a doctor walked into the room.
Consultant paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram told jurors he saw Letby standing beside the infant's incubator doing nothing as her blood oxygen levels fell to life-threatening levels. An alarm that should have been sounding was silent.
The baby, born at just 25 weeks, was transferred to another specialist Neo-natal unit but died three days later. The prosecution did not allege that Letby caused her death.
Letby told the jury of six women and six men she has no recollection of any such event.
She denied doing anything harmful to Child K and added that she did not commit any of the offences of which she has been convicted.
The court heard she targeted Child K after the infant was moved from the delivery room to the neo-natal unit shortly after her premature birth.
The moment Lucy Letby was arrested over baby deaths
- Join LBC for Britain Decides our election night coverage, starting Thursday at 10pm. Our flagship program will be led by Andrew Marr and Shelagh Fogarty, with The News Agents' Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall providing expert analysis as results unfold. This comprehensive seven-hour show will be broadcast live on LBC, Global Player, TikTok, and YouTube, with a simulcast on LBC News. Stay tuned for real-time updates and insightful commentary throughout this pivotal night in British politics.
The youngster, weighing just 692g, was said by the prosecution to be the "epitome of fragility".
About 90 minutes after her birth, Letby deliberately dislodged Child K's breathing tube through which she was being ventilated with air and oxygen.
Consultant paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram caught her "virtually red-handed" as he entered the unit's intensive care room at about 3.45am and he then went on to intervene and resuscitate Child K.
Dr Jayaram told jurors he saw "no evidence" that she had done anything to help the deteriorating baby as he walked in and saw her standing next to the infant's incubator.
He said he heard no call for help from Letby or alarms sounding as Child K's blood oxygen levels suddenly dropped.
Letby told the jury of six women and six men she had no recollection of any such event.
She denied she did anything harmful to Child K and added that she had not committed any of the offences she had been convicted of.
Letby also denied the prosecution's claims that she interfered with the infant's breathing tube on two more occasions during the same shift to create the impression that Child K was habitually displacing her own tube.
Child K was transferred to a specialist hospital later on February 17 because of her extreme prematurity and died there three days later.
No post-mortem examination was conducted and the cause of death was certified as extreme prematurity and severe respiratory distress syndrome.
More than two years later on a late Friday night in April 2018, Letby searched on Facebook for Child K's surname.
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said it was part of a pattern of similar Facebook searches as he told the jury: "The truth is that Lucy Letby had a fascination with the babies she had murdered and attempted to murder, and with their families. She took pleasure in her murderous handiwork."
Letby was initially charged with the murder of Child K but the charge was dropped in June 2022 as the prosecution offered no evidence.
In May, Letby lost her Court of Appeal bid to challenge her convictions.
A public inquiry into how Letby was able to commit her crimes on the neo-natal unit is set to begin at Liverpool Town Hall on September 10.
A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children involved in the case.
Letby showed no emotion in the dock as the verdict was returned. Sentencing will take place on Friday at 10.30am.
