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
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.”
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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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