A British nurse has been convicted of the murder of seven infants and the attempted killing of six others at the hospital where she was employed.
Lucy Letby, who was in her mid-20s when the murders occurred and worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital, is now known as the most prolific child killer in modern UK history.
Lucy Letby, 33, harmed babies under her care by injecting air into their bloodstream and stomachs, overfeeding them with milk, physically assaulting them, and poisoning them with insulin. These details emerged during the trial at Manchester Crown Court in northern England.
Between 2015 and 2016, Letby carried out covert attacks on 13 babies in the neonatal ward of the Countess of Chester hospital. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) of Britain stated that her motive was to kill the babies while making her colleagues believe that the deaths were due to natural causes.
Medical staff at the hospital began to notice an unusual increase in the number of infant deaths and unexplained collapses. After failing to find medical explanations, the police initiated an investigation.
In 2018 and 2019, Letby was arrested twice by the police as part of the ongoing investigation. She was apprehended again in November 2020. Authorities discovered incriminating notes at her residence, including messages where she expressed guilt and intent.
One note read, “I don’t deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them.” In another, she wrote, “I am a horrible evil person,” and in capital letters, “I am evil, I did this.”
Pascale Jones from the CPS condemned Letby’s actions, stating that she had betrayed the trust placed in her. Jones emphasized that Letby had manipulated ordinary substances like air, milk, fluids, and insulin into lethal tools to cause harm, grief, and death.
The families of the victims expressed that they might never fully understand the motives behind these actions. They acknowledged that justice had been served and that the nurse responsible for their babies’ care had been found guilty of harming them.