Lucy Letby: Mother fears killer nurse harmed her baby in act of revenge
A mother has told Sky News she fears her newborn baby was harmed by child murderer Lucy Letby the day after she made a complaint about the nurse.
Lynsey Artell gave birth to her son Asa in March 2016 as Letby was attacking babies and stalking the corridors of the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Letby has been found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six other infants.
Ms Artell says she and her husband were discussing how their premature son was making good progress on the unit when the couple noticed Letby eavesdropping on their conversation.
She says, out of the blue, Letby told them: “I don’t like parents getting their hopes up because we never know what could happen at this stage.”
Read more: Follow live reaction from court
Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Pic: Shutterstock
Ms Artell, who was herself a nurse at the hospital and had suffered numerous miscarriages, made a complaint to senior staff on the ward.
Speaking exclusively to Sky News, she said: “As a parent, I absolutely erupted and was furious. How dare you take that hope away from me?
“This was my seventh pregnancy… she needed to know that that was inappropriate.”
Mother fears killer nurse harmed her baby
Ms Artell now fears her actions could have prompted Letby to attack little Asa as he lay helpless in his ventilator.
The next day, the mother briefly left her two-day-old son’s bedside to get a coffee. When she returned, nurses and doctors were gathered around him, drawing the screens.
He’d had a huge spike in his insulin levels and was receiving urgent treatment.
During her trial, the court heard one of Letby’s favoured methods of attack was injecting her tiny victims with insulin.
The new mother watched as medics worked on her son.
“I just thought I don’t want to lose another one,” she said. “I hadn’t even held him yet.”
Mercifully, doctors managed to bring Asa back around, and eventually he was discharged from hospital.
Asa was saved by doctors
Chilling conversations of Letby’s suspicious colleagues
Ms Artell had concerns and still has not received a satisfactory answer into why her son’s insulin levels shot up with no warning.
After Letby was arrested, Ms Artell contacted police who investigated twice but did not bring charges in relation to Asa.
“I would have liked them to have spoken to us,” she said.
“It’s frustrating… because they haven’t got the whole facts. You think ‘oh my god, I was so close’.”
Having worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital, she also recalls chilling conversations from suspicious colleagues when there was a medical emergency.
She said: “When alarms would go off, during the night especially, there would be a phrase that people would use, colleagues that I know. They would say: ‘I wonder if Lucy’s working tonight?’.”
Following the verdicts, Ms Artell now hopes police will reinvestigate her case and others, and that more charges may be brought.
She also wants a public inquiry so lessons can be learned, and Letby’s horrific crimes can never be repeated.
“A guilty verdict is brilliant for some people, they get justice,” Ms Artell said.
“It doesn’t bring anyone back, but it gives some people some answers. But it also leaves many people who haven’t had answers, like me.”
Read more:
More families told their children could be victims
Inside court and the trial of a baby killer
Parents of boys Letby tried to kill criticise hospital
Video shows moment of Letby arrest
Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes, of Cheshire Police, told Sky News: “We’re obviously committed to looking at the entire time that Lucy has been employed as a nurse, whether it’s at the unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital or the Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
“That’s to make sure that at the end of Operation Hummingbird we can say, with a degree of confidence, that we’ve investigated every baby who has been in the neonatal unit and we’re confident that there are, or are not, further cases.”
Sky News has contacted the Countess of Chester Hospital for comment.
UK
Teenager living in ‘continuous pain’ after surgeon Dr Yaser Jabbar carried out ‘inappropriate’ operations
A 15-year-old boy who was operated on twice by a now unlicensed Great Ormond Street surgeon is living with “continuous” pain.
Finias Sandu has been told by an independent review the procedures he underwent on both his legs were “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” for his age.
The teenager from Essex was born with a condition that causes curved bones in his legs.
Aged seven, a reconstructive procedure was carried out on Finias’s left leg, lengthening the limb by 3.5cm.
A few years later, the same operation was carried out on his right leg which involved wearing an invasive and heavy metal frame for months.
He has now been told by independent experts these procedures should not have taken place and concerns have been raised over a lack of imaging being taken prior to the operations.
Yaser Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence last year. Pic: LinkedIn
His doctor at London’s prestigious Great Ormond Street Hospital was former consultant orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar. Sky News has spoken to others he treated.
Mr Jabbar also did not arrange for updated scans or for relevant X-rays to be conducted ahead of the procedures.
The surgeries have been found to have caused Finias “harm” and left him in constant pain.
“The pain is there every day, every day I’m continuously in pain,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not something really sharp, although it does get to a certain point where it hurts quite a lot, but it’s always there. It just doesn’t leave, it’s a companion to me, just always there.”
Read more:
Girl who had leg amputated suffered harm during surgeon’s care
Child, 11, in wheelchair after surgeon’s operations
Hospital accused of ‘covering up’ concerns about suspended surgeon
Finias’s surgery pictures
Care of over 700 patients being assessed
Mr Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence in January last year after working at Great Ormond Street between 2017 and 2022.
The care of his 700-plus patients is being assessed, with some facing corrective surgery, among them Finias.
“Trusting somebody is hard to do, knowing what they have done to me physically and emotionally, you know, it’s just too much to comprehend for me,” he said.
“It wasn’t something just physically, like my leg pain and everything else. It was emotionally, because I put my trust in that specific doctor. My parents and I don’t really understand the more scientific terms, we just went by what he said.”
Doctors refused to treat Finias because of his surgeries
Finias and his family relocated to their native Romania soon after the reconstructive frame was removed from his right leg in the summer of 2021.
The pain worsened and they sought advice from doctors in Romania, who refused to treat Finias because of the impact of his surgeries.
Dozens of families seeking legal claims
His mother Cornelia Sandu is “furious” and feels her trust in the hospital has been shattered. They are now among dozens of families seeking legal claims.
Cyrus Plaza from Hudgell Solicitors is representing the family. He said: “In cases where it has been identified that harm was caused, we want to see Great Ormond Street Hospital agreeing to pay interim payments of compensation for the children, so that if they need therapy or treatment now, they can access it.”
Finias is accessing therapy and mental health support as he prepares for corrective surgery later in the year.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital told Sky News: “We are deeply sorry to Finias and his family, and all the patients and families who have been impacted.
“We want every patient and family who comes to our hospital to feel safe and cared for. We will always discuss concerns families may have and, where they submit claims, we will work to ensure the legal process can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
Finias with his mother and sister
Service not ‘safe for patients’
Sky News has attempted to contact Mr Jabbar.
An external review into the wider orthopaedic department at the hospital began in September 2022.
It was commissioned after the Royal College of Surgeons warned the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service was not “safe for patients or adequate to meet demand”.
The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sir Keir Starmer has said closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK’s jobs, bills and borders ahead of a summit where he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday as part of its efforts to “reset” relations post-Brexit.
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – but disagreements over a youth mobility scheme and fishing rights could prove to be a stumbling block.
The prime minister has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
His comment comes after Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Friday work on a defence deal was progressing but “we’re not there yet”.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen later that day while at a summit in Albania.
Ursula von der Leyen and Sir Keir had a brief meeting earlier this week. Pic: PA
If agreed, the deal will be the third in two weeks, following trade agreements with India and the US.
Sir Keir said: “First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that’s jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising.
“More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
“Tomorrow, we take another step forward, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union.”
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she is “worried” about what the PM might have negotiated.
Ms Badenoch – who has promised to rip up the deal with the EU if it breaches her red lines on Brexit – said: “Labour should have used this review of our EU trade deal to secure new wins for Britain, such as an EU-wide agreement on Brits using e-gates on the continent.
“Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door. This isn’t a reset, it’s a surrender.”
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