Nurse Lucy Letby found guilty of murdering seven babies on neonatal unit
A nurse has been found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others while working on a hospital’s neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016.
Lucy Letby – who was in her mid-20s and working at the Countess of Chester Hospital at the time of the murders – is now the UK’s most prolific child killer of modern times.
She was found guilty by a series of partial verdicts, delivered several days apart, with the judge issuing reporting restrictions until the end of the trial.
Letby was also found guilty of seven counts of attempted murder, including two involving the same infant.
Read more: Live reaction from court
Letby cried during some of the verdicts, while families of her victims sobbed and comforted each other as the jury read out its findings. One member of the jury also cried and held her head in her hands.
She was also found not guilty of two charges of attempted murder. The jury was unable to reach verdicts on six further counts of attempted murder.
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Lucy Letby: A serial baby killer
Letby’s mother, Susan, broke down sobbing as her daughter was led away from the dock after the first set of verdicts, whispering “you can’t be serious, this can’t be right,” into her husband’s arms.
Neither Letby nor her parents were in court as the trial came to a close today.
During a later set of verdicts, Letby refused to come up from the cells, and was found guilty of more murders in her absence.
All of the children have been granted anonymity, although their names were read out in the courtroom during the nine-month trial.
Two of her victims, known as Child L and M, were twin brothers.
They had been born prematurely and were just days old when Letby tried to kill them within hours of each other, in April 2016.
Speaking publicly for the very first time, the boys’ parents described the killer nurse as acting “very cool and calm” after trying to murder Child M with an injection of excessive air.
“At that time, her body language and her behaviour totally changed,” the twins’ mother said.
“She was very annoyed with us. She thought that ‘I couldn’t kill your baby’.”
Exclusive: Mother fears Letby attacked her baby too
John and Susan Letby, the parents of nurse Lucy Letby, arriving at Manchester Crown Court earlier in the trial
‘I had to listen to her lie and lie and lie’
The boys’ father said he broke down as he watched doctors trying to resuscitate Child M on the ward, “pumping his heart like a rag doll”.
“We were first-time parents, we didn’t know what was going on,” he said. Neither parent suspected Lucy Letby at the time.
Both Child M and Child L, who Letby tried to poison with insulin, survived the assaults.
But Child M has been left with brain damage which his parents say means he may “deviate from his peers” as he grows older.
The boys’ parents, who joined other families in the court, said it was “horrendous” to witness Letby repeatedly deny hurting their children during weeks of cross-examination.
“I had to listen to her lie and lie and lie,” their mother said, “and I say now enough: don’t tell lies.”
“Whatever sentence she gets, it’s not going to be enough.”
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
Court artist Elizabeth Cook drawing outside Manchester Crown Court
‘Devious’ and ‘cold-blooded’
Described as “devious” and “cold-blooded”, Letby “completely perverted her learning” and “weaponised whatever was at her disposal,” the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
The jury heard the nurse would misuse medical equipment and medicines to cause babies to unexpectedly collapse across day and night shifts on the hospital’s neonatal ward.
Her victims included both boys and girls, many of whom were born prematurely.
Two of her last victims were boys, known as Children O and P, who were two of three triplet siblings. Both died within the first week of their lives, and Child O was found with severe liver damage.
Pascale Jones, of the CPS, said Letby “betrayed the trust that people had in the NHS” as well as the “faith that families had”.
“Behind that angelic smile was a much darker side to her personality,” she added.
Pic: Shutterstock
Police investigating more attacks
Letby stood trial accused of murdering seven babies and trying to murder 10 others at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
The nurse, from Hereford, denied all the charges.
But the court heard that colleagues had suspicions about Letby well over a year before hospital bosses contacted the police.
A nurse who worked at the hospital told Sky News that when “alarms would go off during the night” there would be a “phrase that people would use”.
Lynsey Artell said that colleagues would ask, “I wonder if Lucy’s working tonight?”.
Ms Artell also fears that Letby attacked her son, Asa, who was cared for on the hospital’s neonatal ward after being born two months premature.
She is calling for the police to reinvestigate her claims and that of other parents.
Baby Asa
Following today’s verdicts, Cheshire Police confirmed they are now investigating whether Letby could have attacked other children in her care, prior to June 2015.
This includes several more years she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital, as well as time Letby spent on training placements at Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
Sky News has contacted both hospitals for comment.
DCI Nicola Evans, the deputy senior investigating officer on the case, told Sky News that it remains “really hard to even accept that, in that setting, somebody would be harming babies”.
“That is totally unnatural for anybody to think that,” she added.
Lynsey Artell spoke to Sky News about her baby Asa
No motive ever established
Cheshire Police conducted a two-year investigation into the babies’ deaths before Letby was charged in November 2020.
Officers say they examined more than half a million medical and digital records and have been supporting the victims’ families, many of whom have attended court proceedings in person.
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Police thank witnesses in Letby case
DCI Evans said: “I don’t think there’s anybody who has worked on this investigation who will come out of the other side the same person they were.
“It has been heartbreaking.”
![J124 [IB1210]. Forensics shorthand](https://e3.365dm.com/23/07/768x432/2372307100191848307_6214306.jpg?20230710121223)
During the trial, Letby claimed that she was being wrongly accused to cover hospital failings.
No motive has ever been established, which DCI Evans said “must be really hard for families to accept”.
“I don’t know whether we will ever be able to answer that question, and only Lucy Letby can answer that,” the officer added.
Additional reporting by Megan Harwood-Baynes, news reporter inside Manchester Crown Court
UK
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh admits pleading guilty to offence in connection with misleading police in 2014
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has admitted pleading guilty to an offence connected with misleading the police while a parliamentary candidate in 2014, Sky News can reveal.
Sky News understands Ms Haigh appeared at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court six months before the 2015 general election, after making a false report to officers that her mobile phone had been stolen.
Ms Haigh said she was “mugged while on a night out” in 2013. She then reported the incident to the police and gave officers a list of items she believed had been taken – including a work mobile phone.
In a statement to Sky News, the transport secretary said she discovered “some time later” that “the mobile in question had not been taken”.
She added: “In the interim, I had been issued with another work phone.”
The transport secretary said: “The original work device being switched on triggered police attention and I was asked to come in for questioning.
“My solicitor advised me not to comment during that interview and I regret following that advice.
“The police referred the matter to the CPS and I appeared before Southwark magistrates.”
Ms Haigh continued: “Under the advice of my solicitor I pleaded guilty – despite the fact this was a genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain.
“The magistrates accepted all of these arguments and gave me the lowest possible outcome (a discharge) available.”
It’s understood her conviction is now classified as ‘spent’.
However, three separate sources claimed she made the false report to benefit personally, with two of the sources alleging she wanted a more modern work handset that was being rolled out to her colleagues at the time.
The now cabinet minister had been working as a public policy manager at Aviva, but two sources said she lost her job at the insurance firm because of the incident.
Her government profile states she left this role in 2015 before becoming the MP for Sheffield Heeley at that year’s general election.
Sky News understands the incident was disclosed in full when Ms Haigh was appointed to the shadow cabinet.
In the statement given to Sky News, the transport secretary said: “I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.”
Conservative Party Chairman Nigel Huddleston told Sky News the revelations are “extremely concerning”.
He added: “Keir Starmer has serious questions to answer regarding what he knew and when about the person he appointed as transport secretary admitting to having misled the police.”
Before entering politics, the transport secretary was a special constable in the Metropolitan Police – serving between 2009 and 2011 in the South London Borough of Lambeth, close to where she was convicted several years later.
Louise Haigh was a special constable from 2009-2011. Pic: www.louisehaigh.org.uk
She was appointed shadow policing minister by Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 and frequently drew on her experience in the Met when challenging the Tory government on the rising demands on officers.
As transport secretary, Ms Haigh appoints members of the board that oversees the British Transport Police.
In 2019 she said that Boris Johnson had “deceived the police” and committed a “serious breach of trust” over claims he politicised serving officers during a speech in West Yorkshire.
Sir Keir Starmer promoted the Sheffield MP to shadow Northern Ireland secretary in 2020 before moving her to shadow transport secretary in 2021.
In this brief she has been an outspoken critic of the mass sacking of 800 workers by P&O Ferries in 2022.
In October, while transport secretary, she accused P&O of being a “rogue operator” and called for a boycott of its services.
The comments caused the firm’s Dubai-based owner to review a planned £1bn UK port investment – something that was re-confirmed after ministers held urgent talks with the company.
Louise Haigh has been the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Heeley since 2015
But she was publicly rebuked by Sir Keir who said her opinions were “not the view of the government”.
With connections to former Downing Street chief of staff Sue Gray, there has been speculation her cabinet role could be under threat in a future reshuffle.
Ms Gray’s son, Labour MP Liam Conlon, is Ms Haigh’s parliamentary private secretary and acts as her “eyes and ears” in parliament, while another of her former employees also worked for the former chief of staff before she was sacked after losing a power struggle within Number 10.
As transport secretary, Ms Haigh was one of a handful of cabinet ministers who complained to the Treasury about impending cuts in the budget.
She is considered to be one of the more left-wing members of the cabinet and has vowed to “rip up the roots of Thatcherism” with her plans for rail and bus reform.
In 2015, Ms Haigh was one of a number of Labour MPs to nominate Mr Corbyn for leader – a decision she later said she regretted.
UK
MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace steps down as Kirsty Wark among 13 who claim he made inappropriate sexual jokes
MasterChef host Gregg Wallace has stepped down over allegations he made a series of inappropriate sexual comments on a range of programmes over 17 years.
Broadcaster Kirsty Wark is among 13 people who have made claims, with Wallace being investigated by MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK.
In an interview with the BBC, the Newsnight presenter, who was a celebrity contestant on MasterChef in 2011, claimed Wallace used “sexualised language”.
“There were two occasions in particular where he used sexualised language in front of a number of people and it wasn’t as if it was anyone engaged with this,” Wark said.
“It was completely one-way traffic. I think people were uncomfortable and something that I really didn’t expect to happen.”
Sky News has contacted Wallace’s representative for comment.
Kirsty Wark. File pic: PA
‘Fully cooperating’
Banijay UK said the complaints were made to the BBC this week by “individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with Gregg Wallace on one of our shows”.
The company said the 60-year-old, who has been a co-presenter and judge of the popular cooking show since 2005, was “committed to fully cooperating throughout the process”.
“Whilst these complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate,” the company said.
“While this review is under way, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully co-operating throughout the process.
“Banijay UK’s duty of care to staff is always a priority and our expectations regarding behaviour are made clear to both cast and crew on all productions, with multiple ways of raising concerns, including anonymously, clearly promoted on set.
“Whilst these are historical allegations, incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not met, are thoroughly investigated and addressed appropriately.”
A BBC spokesman said: “We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them.
“We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated.
“Where an individual is contracted directly by an external production company we share any complaints or concerns with that company and we will always support them when addressing them.”
Previous investigation
Last month, Wallace responded to reports that a previous BBC review had found he could continue working at the corporation following reports of an alleged incident in 2018 when he appeared on Impossible Celebrities.
Wallace said those claims had been investigated “promptly” at the time and said he had not said “anything sexual” while appearing on the game show more than half a decade ago.
In an Instagram post following an article in The Sun newspaper, he wrote: “The story that’s hitting the newspapers was investigated promptly when it happened six years ago by the BBC.
“And the outcome of that was that I hadn’t said anything sexual. I’ll need to repeat this again. I didn’t say anything sexual.”
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Alongside MasterChef, Wallace presented Inside The Factory for BBC Two from 2015.
Wallace and Anne-Marie Sterpini in 2014. Pic: PA
Wallace has featured on various BBC shows over the years, including Saturday Kitchen, Eat Well For Less, Supermarket Secrets, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals, as well as being a Strictly Come Dancing contestant in 2014.
He was made an MBE for services to food and charity last year.
Recorded episodes of MasterChef: The Professionals featuring Wallace will be transmitted as planned, the PA news agency understands.
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