THE FULL STORY
THE NEONATAL NURSE MURDERED SEVEN NEWBORNS AND ATTEMPTED TO KILL ANOTHER SIX, MAKING HER THE MOST PROLIFIC KILLER OF CHILDREN IN BRITAIN
On the surface, Lucy Letby seemed just like any other young nurse who loved her job. She worked in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, and when the local paper ran a story about the unit, Letby held up a tiny sleepsuit for a profile piece. “I enjoy seeing babies progress and supporting their families,” she said.
Letby, 33, was raised in Hereford – an only child to John, 77, and Susan, 63, who were described by neighbours as well-liked and respected. She was close to her parents, although she told friends they were “a little suffocating at times”. At school, she was described by friends as “geeky” and after college, she qualified as a children’s nurse at the University of Chester. She finished training placements at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital before joining the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital on 2 January 2012. Letby bought a semi-detached home in 2016, a 20-minute walk from the ward. She had two cats, Tigger and Smudge, and her bedroom was decorated with fluffy toys and artwork that said things like, “Leave sparkles wherever you go.” Outside of work, Letby had an active social life and went to weekly salsa classes.
To many of her patients, she appeared to be a dedicated, caring nurse – but that could not have been further from the truth.
INFANT DEATHS
On 8 June 2015, a baby boy – identified only as Child A – was born six weeks premature, along with his twin sister, Child B. He was handed to Letby, then 25, on the night shift. Within 30 minutes, Child A deteriorated rapidly and as medics battled to resuscitate him, his mother, who was in a wheelchair recovering from the labour, sobbed, “Please don’t let my baby die.” Despite medics’ best efforts, the little boy couldn’t be saved and the heart-breaking decision was taken to stop CPR. He was pronounced dead at 8.58pm.
Later, Letby took hand and footprints and a lock of hair from the child, and created a memory box for his devastated parents. “I thought it was a nice thing to do,” she later said. But the unthinkable truth was that Letby had murdered the infant by injecting air into his bloodstream. And, around 28 hours later, Letby also injected his twin with air, but she survived after being resuscitated.
On 14 June, Letby struck again. Child C was born seven weeks premature but despite weighing just 1lb 12oz, he was doing well. Then, Letby was seen standing over his incubator, despite not being his designated nurse, as an alarm sounded. It was later revealed in court that Child C died as a result of air injected into his
