Crime Chronicles: Lucy Letby

I wasn't planning to write about this - especially not as part of the Crime Chronicles series - but there's something that's been bugging me and I have to get it off my mind before I go bonkers...well, more bonkers than I am already.

If you've been paying attention to recent online news, the name Lucy Letby is probably very familiar. She's the nurse who murdered seven babies and attempted to kill six others in the UK.

The case of was recently concluded in the UK on August 21, 2023.

A Nurse at The Countess of Chester Hospital

Born in 1990 in Hereford, England, Lucy Letby studied nursing at the University of Chester and graduated in 2011. She started her career as a registered nurse in the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital a year later in 2012.

This is the first part about this whole thing that bothers me, Letby was a NICU nurse working with INFANTS! When you're admitted to a hospital, there's an inherent level of trust and the implication that you are safe. The first rule of medicine is, after all, do no harm.

Medical Mayhem: The Killing Spree Begins

Before I go into this part, the timeline is likely to be a bit confusing in places, the most comprehensive timeline I could find was a Wikipedia page, and...well...it's Wikipedia folks a lot of that info looks very jumbled.

At 20:00 on June 8, 2015, Letby took over the care of a young boy - more accurately she was the designated nurse for that nursery. At 20:26, the child's condition began to deteriorate and a doctor was called in - by Letby - to look at some discoloration on his skin. Half an hour later, at 20:56, that boy died.

28 hours later, on June 10, 2015, his twin sister also collapsed at 24:00, this time the alarm was sounded and the child's life was saved. She later went on to make a full recovery.

A few days after that, another boy (referred to as Child C), collapsed and died. Letby was seen in the room standing at the child's monitor at the time of his death.

June 22, 2015, saw another child, this time a baby girl, collapse on three separate occasions. She also later died and doctors noted discoloration in the child's skin. An X-ray of the girl's body found air in her spine; it was determined that it couldn't have gotten there naturally and that the air was the cause of the discoloration of the skin.

A Month of Peace before the Chaos Returns

Four deaths in one month, with Letby seen either with or near the children in each case. To say this raised eyebrows would likely be an understatement. On July 2, 2015, doctors raised their concerns, but nothing was done. The deaths stopped for a month - until August 4, 2015.

On August 4, 2015, a baby boy (child E) died of a fatal bleed, the next day, August 5, 2015, his twin brother suffered a sudden drop in his blood sugar levels; he survived and an examination discovered an extreme dose of insulin in his fluid bag and body.

Now, a consultant for the hospital voiced concerns which were dismissed - this is something that I'm going to come back to in a second.

Letby's next victim collapsed 3 times on September 7, 2015, and again five days later. The friendly nurse had been seen feeding the baby girl just 15 minutes earlier. Another little girl died six weeks later on October 23, 2015, her body showed that she'd been injected with air.

Warnings Ignored

This is where I start getting very angry. Later on October 23, 2015, doctors raised concerns with hospital administration. They were told to, and I quote:

"Not make a fuss."

The fact that one nurse was present for all these incidents should've been a huge red flag. Instead, she was moved to working the day shift in April 2016 and, as expected, the collapses began occurring during the day.

On April 9, 2015, a pair of twins collapsed. One had been injected with insulin, and the other with air. The second child (referred to as 'M') survived but suffered brain damage as a result of his encounter with Letby.

A meeting was held to discuss what had been going on, but ultimately nothing was done. Another child came close to death a month later from trauma to his throat.

Letby's Reign of Terror Stops

Lucy Letby's final two victims collapsed on June 23 and June 24, 2016. They were two brothers, the first was found to have excess gas in his stomach (see the pattern here?) and severe liver damage. His brother collapsed the next day when his diaphragm was shattered.

I don't even know what to say at this point, the surviving triplet was taken to a different hospital and three weeks later, in July of 2016, Letby was taken off the duty roster. The mysterious collapses and deaths subsequently stopped...gee, I wonder why.

Investigation, Arrest, and Trial

Letby was initially arrested on July 3, 2018, on suspicion of 8 counts of murder and 6 counts of attempted murder. She was bailed on July 6, while police investigated. Her home in Chester was searched and she was found to have documentation regarding patients (which she shouldn't have had) as well as a diary detailing her crimes.

She was arrested and bailed out a few times, but her final arrest came in November of 2020. She was charged with 7 Counts of Murder and 15 counts of attempted murder and was denied bail.

Her trial started on October 10, 2022, at the Manchester Crown Court where she denied all 22 charges. Over the course of the trial, all the doctors who raised concerns were called to the stand where they testified as to how the hospital administration had essentially told them to keep their mouths shut. It also came out that Letby had falsified patient records in an attempt to cover her tracks.

The jury retired to deliberate on July 10, 2023, and the final verdicts were submitted on the 18th of August, 2023. The verdicts were:

• Guilty - 7 counts of murder
• Guilty - 7 counts of attempted murder
• Not Guilty - 2 counts of attempted murder

The jury couldn't agree on a verdict for the other 6 counts of attempted murder. Letby was sentenced to 14 life sentences and, in what is apparently a rare thing in the UK, the judge added that this would be a whole life term. This essentially means that, unless she gets a new trial and has her sentence overturned, Lucy Letby will die in prison.

My Thoughts on the Situation

This is probably one of, if not the most disturbing (and disgusting) stories I've ever read about. The fact the hospital ignored repeated warnings and tried to cover it all up - seriously, what else should I call it? - is just all kinds of wrong. This woman targeted babies! Worse still, she got away with it for a year because the hospital seemingly didn't want a scandal.

Several doctors raised concerns, Letby was present for all of the incidents, and she had falsified records and stolen records...all of these should've been checked out. She had a diary - a DIARY - that detailed her crimes!

I'm pretty sure the hospital has done some serious damage to its reputation and I wouldn't be surprised if the families of the deceased launched a class action lawsuit or two.

Some Thanks are in Order

Okay, so I'm very late to the party on this one. As such, I feel like a few thanks are in order. So, here we go, many thanks to the following authors here on Vocal who covered the story:

• Ralph Emerson
• Rachel Deeming
• Suganthan
• Amy Wills
• Shauna Mullen
• Asmaa El Ouafi

You guys are awesome and made researching and writing this piece a lot more bearable so thanks for that!