Additional Coverage:
Lucy Letby, a British neonatal nurse currently serving a life sentence for the murder of seven infants and the attempted murder of six others, was recently found guilty of another attempted murder of a baby girl under her care. The verdict came in on Tuesday, convicting Letby, 34, for an incident that occurred in February 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital, located in the northwest of England. This decision followed a prior jury’s inability to determine a verdict regarding the case.
According to court testimony, Letby denied ever causing harm to any child. However, she was accused of intentionally removing a very premature baby’s, identified only as Child K, breathing tube on February 17, 2016.
Senior Prosecutor Nicola Wyn Williams argued that Letby was seen inactive next to the struggling child after allegedly removing the baby’s breathing support. Williams suggested Letby repeatedly dislodged the breathing tube in a purported effort to appear as though it was an accidental incident.
A police photograph of Lucy Letby taken after her arrest on July 3, 2018, was shared, displaying the nurse captured by Reuters/Cheshire Constabulary. The prosecution described her actions as those of a “cold-blooded, calculated killer,” pointing out the dreadful realization by hospital staff that one of their own was intentionally harming and causing the deaths of infants in their care.
Dr. Ravi Jayaram, a pediatrician at the hospital, testified that he saw no signs of Letby assisting the baby as he found her standing idly by the newborn’s incubator. Letby, in her defense, told the court she had no memory of such an event and denied any wrongdoing in harming Child K or committing any of the crimes she was accused of.
The emotional toll of the verdict was palpable in the courtroom as the baby’s parents reacted with shock and tears after the jury, which deliberated for three and a half hours, announced the decision. Letby, however, displayed no emotional response.
In August 2023, Letby had already been convicted by the Manchester Crown Court of seven murders and six attempted murders, following deliberations that extended over three weeks. All incidents occurred at the neonatal unit of Countess of Chester Hospital from June 2015 to June 2016. The 2023 trial unearthed accusations of Letby intentionally injuring newborns through actions such as injecting air into their bloodstreams and misusing nasogastric tubes to administer air or milk directly into their stomachs, as reported by CBS News.
Given the severity of her crimes, Letby is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, marking one of the rarest sentences imposed in the U.K., where capital punishment is not legal. Only three other women in the country have ever received such a stringent penalty.