'It will be justice, but not enough': Parents of twins attacked by Lucy Letby fear children will be damaged for life
18 August 2023, 13:29 | Updated: 18 August 2023, 13:38
Parents of twins attacked by Lucy Letby fear their children will be damaged for life
Killer nurse Lucy Letby has been branded "evil" by the parents of two children who were among the babies she tried to kill at a neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016.
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One of the families involved in the case has spoken out following the jury’s verdict in the Letby case.
The devastated parents of twins - Baby M and Baby L - said no matter what sentence she got "it would not be enough" as they continued to face the day-to-day disruption her actions have caused.
They said the "evil" nurse "took everything" from them. But the torture did not end with the children as they were forced to hear her "lie, lie and lie" during the trial.
Read more: Evil nurse Lucy Letby found guilty of murdering seven babies
The parents now fear the twins will be damaged for life, with one having permanent brain damage and another sweating excessively every night.
Letby, 33, previously denied murdering seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit and attempting to murder 10 more.
The 22 charges are seven of murder, and 15 of attempted murder, which the prosecution alleged happened between June 2015 and June 2016.
The first-time parents – who will remain anonymous - had been “ecstatic” after the birth of their two healthy boys.
“We were happy and knew everything was as good as it could have been at that time,” they said.
But just minutes after going down to see the boys with their own parents, the couple were quickly rushed back.
“We went back upstairs because my wife was in the ward upstairs and then within 10, 15 minutes a nurse is coming charging upstairs saying you need to come back down,” the father said.
Watch the whole shocking interview in the video at the top of the page.
Moment evil nurse Lucy Letby is arrested by police for the murder of seven babies
He told of the “horrendous” scene he saw before him: “When I went down, I saw doctors around the trolley and they're just...pumping [Baby M’s] heart like a rag doll, really. He was just like a doll and they were just going like that... (mimics compression) to the chest.”
The mother said Letby had been in the room but was “very calm and cool”.
“She was very cool, calm, calculated and criminal minded lady, but we didn’t notice anything at the time,” she said.
“What I can remember was Mary Griffiths face. She was saying ‘I’ve not done anything I’ve not done anything’.
“But at that time I didn’t know her name but when I saw her in court then I knew her name and I told the police ‘she’s the nurse who said to me I’ve not done anything I’ve not done anything’ and Lucy was standing behind Mary Griffiths and Mary Griffiths was very worried and panicked.”
The family explained: “Baby M had the collapse at 4:00. But we didn't know about Baby L full stop, we didn’t know...We only knew about Baby L when the police came.”
The family heard in court that Mary Griffith and Letby were at the hospital at night time with Baby L.
“As soon as Mary Griffith left at half (past) nine, she (Letby) got the chance to attack Baby L and administer insulin to Baby L, a very high level of insulin, poisonous insulin,” the mother said.
She initially thought Letby was “doing very well” for her children, taking blood samples and putting injections in the TPN bag.
Letby also showed them how to change a nappy during their first step into parenthood.
The mother said: "She asked us to change a nappy, and we had said to her, ‘Oh, we are very scared about changing nappies’ because we were first time parents, so can you show us how to change a nappy because my kids are very small, tiny and at that time, her body language and her behaviour totally changed.
"I asked her, ‘Lucy, do you work all day and night-time?’ and she said ‘Yes, I'm working extra time.’"
But she became more aggressive after the two children recovered and came across “very annoyed”, the mother said.
“[Letby] was not responding properly to me when I went to see my kids in the afternoon,” she said.
“I said, ‘Hi Lucy,’ and she was not speaking, just sitting on the computer.
“After she was unsuccessful in killing my babies, afterwards she was not responding to me. She changed totally.”
Read more: Lucy Letby trial juror discharged for 'a good personal reason' after 13th day of deliberations
The parents have since called for an inquiry to be held into hospital whistleblowing.
“Something needs to be done there - the head of nursing needs to be accountable. She refused to take Lucy Letby out of the unit,” the father said.
“She didn't listen to the doctor...and things just carried on. She has to take the responsibility.
“She made that decision. She could have stopped this long before.”
It comes after jurors heard that a senior hospital executive ignored three warnings by a consultant paediatrician that Letby might be responsible for a number of deaths in the neonatal unit.
The couple said that the hospital was to blame for not mentioning that Baby L had also been affected.
“It wasn't the Liverpool Hospital. They actually rang the results through,” the father said.
“The people at Chester are the ones that didn't act upon those results because by the morning he had recovered. So they didn't act upon those results. But they never told us - as a parent, surely you tell us?
“Whatever happens, even if it's minor or whatever they need to tell the parents, at least – this happened in the night.”
Despite Baby M and L surviving, the parents said there is a chance that they will both be affected in the long run.
“Baby M did have a scan and the doctor did say that one part of his brain is damaged permanently,” the father said.
“So he might may deviate from his peers and stuff. At the moment, if you look at him...you wouldn't think any differently... just like a normal child.
“So it's something that we'll just have to keep monitoring over the years as the years progress.”
The mother added: “Baby L also, whenever he sleeps at night time his head is totally wet.”
She continued: “He got sweating every night. He said ‘mummy… it’s so sweaty, my head...Whenever I sleep at night time’...and I said come on and sit near the fan so he sits near the fan to dry his hair every day.”
The family said juggling day-to-day life as well as going to court had been “totally disrupting” to their lives.
“I'm worried about my husband,” the mother said. “He’s already had one seizure...everyday I'm thinking about Lucy Letby, Lucy Letby, everyday whenever we go to court and she comes onto the witness box and tells lies.”
The father said he had become much more “reserved”.
“I was happy go lucky, you know, go with the flow,” he said. “Always smiling. But now I've become reserved, so like in the shell kind of thing.
“There’s no doubt it's going to affect me for the rest of my life. There's no way you can get away from it.”
He added: “It's always going to be there in the back of your mind.”
The parents have since told their children what happened but "they don't understand yet".
"We tried to say to them that Lucy has tried to harm you," they said. "But they don't understand. They make a joke, ‘Mummy we will kick her, we will bite her, we will pull her hair mummy.’"
Speaking of Letby, they said: "She means nothing. Just an evil person. There's no way she should have been able to get away with it for so long."
The family said they felt she should get a life sentence: “She’s taken lives - she’s tried to take other babies’ lives - so whatever sentence she gets it’s not going to be enough. It will be justice, but it won’t be enough. Whatever the sentence comes.”
