Nurse Lucy Letby found guilty of murdering seven babies on neonatal unit

Published

2 years ago

August 18, 2023

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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.

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

‘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.”

‘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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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

Suspended surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge named

Published

3 hours ago

April 7, 2025

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Suspended surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge named

The suspended surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge has been named as paediatric consultant Kuldeep Stohr.

Eight hundred patients operated on by Ms Stohr are having their cases urgently re-examined, after an external review found nine children whose care fell below expected standards.

The initial review was ordered after concerns were raised by her colleagues.

Sky News has seen a copy of the interim report which details several issues relating to complex hip surgeries performed by the surgeon.

One of the parents whose child was identified in the review showed us a recent letter from the hospital which reported “problems with both judgement and technique” in her child’s surgery.

Ms Stohr, who has been suspended since the end of January, said in a statement: “I always strive to provide the highest standards of care to all my patients.

“I am co-operating fully with the trust investigation and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

Left in agonising pain

Tammy Harrison, 12, has cerebral palsy and had surgeries carried out by Ms Stohr. Her operations didn’t work, leaving her in agonising pain.

She said: “My first one was just like trauma. I couldn’t get out of bed for eight weeks. I was either stuck in bed or stuck on the sofa. It was hell.”

Her mum, Lynn, told Sky News: “There is nothing that can put Tammy back to where she was now and that’s the sad thing.

“If I could just click my fingers and have the child back that I had I would do it with a blink of an eye.”

So far, there’s been no confirmation of any wrongdoing in Tammy’s care.

But her family have a meeting at the hospital this week to find out more.

The trust has asked a panel of specialist clinicians to review all the planned operations carried out by Ms Stohr at Addenbrooke’s. One hundred emergency trauma cases will also be looked at.

Addenbrooke’s is a major regional trauma centre and treats serious emergency patients from all over the region.

One clinician at the hospital told Sky News that the review of so many patients was “creating a lot of extra work”, which was “slowing things down” for other patients awaiting treatment.

At least one extra locum consultant has been helping the team, as they work through the caseload.

Trust apologises

Sky News has been told Cambridge University Hospitals Trust had wanted to identify Ms Stohr before but had been threatened with a legal injunction.

The trust has apologised unreservedly to families and patients. But what’s troubling many is the fact concerns were raised about Ms Stohr a decade ago.

Chief executive of Cambridge University Hospitals Trust, Roland Sinker, has set up another review to examine whether opportunities were missed, and action could have been taken sooner.

The Department of Health described the ongoing situation as “incredibly concerning.”

UK

Starmer promises ‘bold changes’ to rules over electric cars in wake of Trump’s tariffs

Published

5 hours ago

April 6, 2025

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Starmer promises 'bold changes' to rules over electric cars in wake of Trump's tariffs

Sir Keir Starmer promised “bold changes” as he announced he will relax rules around electric vehicles after carmakers were hit by Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The prime minister said “global trade is being transformed” after the US president‘s 25% levy on imported cars, and 10% tariff on other products, came into force.

Jaguar Land Rover has said the firm will “pause” shipments to the US as it looks to “address the new trading terms”.

Trump adviser explains why tariffs put on island inhabited only by penguins

Labour made a manifesto pledge to restore a 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars after it had been rolled back to 2035 by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government.

Sir Keir will officially confirm the ban in an announcement on Monday but regulations around manufacturing targets on electric cars and vans will be altered, to help firms in the transition.

Luxury supercar firms such as Aston Martin and McLaren will still be allowed to keep producing petrol cars beyond the 2030 date, because they only manufacture a small number of vehicles per year.

Petrol and diesel vans will also be allowed to be sold until 2035, along with hybrids and plug-in hybrid cars.

The government is also going to make it easier for manufacturers who do not comply with the government’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which sets sales targets, to avoid fines, and the levies will be reduced.

Sir Keir said: “I am determined to back British brilliance.

“Now more than ever UK businesses and working people need a government that steps up, not stands aside.

“That means action, not words.”

Officials have said support for the car industry will continue to be kept under review as the full impact of the tariffs announced last week becomes clear.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the industry deserves “clarity” in the economic context.

She said: “Our ambitious package of strengthening reforms will protect and create jobs, making the UK a global automotive leader in the switch to EVs, all the while meeting our core manifesto commitment to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.”

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the government had “recognised the intense pressure manufacturers are under”, while Colin Walker, a transport analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said the ZEV mandate is a “global success story” in driving a surge in sales of electric vehicles.

Tariff impact on UK businesses revealed

Some 62% of UK firms with trade exposure to the US are being negatively impacted by Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.

Its survey of more than 600 businesses also found 32% of firms with trade exposure to the US said they will increase prices in response.

The survey also found 41% of firms with no exposure to the USA said they would be negatively impacted by the tariffs.

Some 44% of firms with exposure to the US said the UK should seek to negotiate a closer trade relationship with the US, while 43% said they wanted closer trade with other markets.

Just under a quarter (21%) said they thought the UK should impose retaliatory tariffs.

The survey also found that 40% of firms considered the 10% tariffs to be better than they had expected.

It comes as KPMG warned US tariffs on UK exports could see GDP growth fall to 0.8% in 2025 and 2026.

The accountancy firm said higher tariffs on specific categories, such as cars, aluminium and steel, would more than offset the exemption on pharmaceutical exports, leaving the effective tariffs imposed on UK exports at around 12%.

Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said: “Given the economic impact that tariffs would cause, there is a strong incentive to seek a negotiated settlement that diminishes the need for tariffs. The UK automotive manufacturing sector is particularly exposed given the complex supply chains of some producers.”

UK

Girl, 10, and father, who died in caravan park fire in Lincolnshire named

Published

14 hours ago

April 6, 2025

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Girl, 10, and father, who died in caravan park fire in Lincolnshire named

Two people who died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness have been named by police.

Lincolnshire Police said 48-year-old Lee Baker and his 10-year-old daughter Esme Baker, both from the Nottingham area, were killed in the blaze.

However, formal identification is still yet to take place and “could take some time”, the force said.

Emergency services were alerted to a fire at Golden Beach Holiday Park, in the village of Ingoldmells, at 3.53am on Saturday.

In a statement issued through police, a member of the Baker family said: “Lee and Esme were excited to be spending the first weekend of the holidays together.

“We are all utterly devastated at what’s happened.

“This loss is incomprehensible at the moment, and we ask for people to give us space to process this utterly heartbreaking loss.”

A GoFundMe page set up for the victims’ family described the father and daughter as “two peas in a pod” who were “both happy-go-lucky people who loved life”. It has so far raised more than £3,000.

The police force, together with Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue, are continuing to investigate the cause of the blaze.

Detective Inspector Lee Nixon said: “We believe we might be close to arriving at a working hypothesis.

“We are working hard to validate the facts available to us to be able to provide answers for the family and loved ones of those who were very tragically taken by this fire.

“Yet the evident intensity of the fire has made this task incredibly challenging.”

Dan Moss, from Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue, said: “Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the family at this time.

“Our Fire Investigation Team is working with colleagues from Lincolnshire Police, and a full investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

“Once investigations are complete, local fire crews and our community fire safety team will be on hand to talk to people in the area and address any fire safety concerns they may have, at what will be an upsetting time.”