‘I am evil, I did this’: Saga of UK killer nurse who murdered babies with insulin and air

Britain has been gripped by the sensational case of a neonatal nurse accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others.

Lucy Letby, 32, has been charged with murder in the deaths of five baby boys and two girls, and the attempted murder of five boys and five girls, while she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between 2015 and 2016.

She has pled not guilty to the charges.

Let’s take a closer look at the case:

Prosecution lays out case

On Thursday, the fourth day of her trial, police told the court several handwritten documents were recovered from Letby’s home after her arrest in July 2018, as per The Guardian.

“Not good enough,” she wrote in one note shared with the jury.

“I will never have children or marry. I will never know what it’s like to have a family” and “I can’t breathe.”

“I am a horrible evil person,” another read.

“I AM EVIL I DID THIS,” she also wrote in capital letters the jury was told as the prosecution concluded its opening statement.

As per Sky News, Letby showed no reaction from Letby as her alleged confession was read out.

‘Anguish not guilt’, claims defence

The defence claimed the letters showed anguish and not guilt.

As per The Guardian, Letby’s lawyer Benjamin Myers KC claimed the notes were the “anguished outpouring of a young woman in fear and despair when she realises the enormity of what is being said about her and this is her way of expressing it in the moment to herself”.

“This note reflects the anguished state of mind Miss Letby found herself in and what she felt when she was learned of how she was accused of killing children she had done her best to care for. What you see there is anguish not guilt,” Myers added.

As per BBC, Myers told the jury Letby was a “dedicated nurse” and in “no way did she want to harm them”.

“She trained hard to be a neonatal nurse and what she wanted was to care for babies she looked after. The defence say she is not guilty of causing intentional harm to any baby or to killing any baby. She loved her job. She cared deeply about the babies and also cared for their families. She had a fulfilling life, had friends, a life outside work,” Myers added.

How investigation began

Police launched an investigation into the deaths of a number of babies at the hospital in May 2017.

The murders of five boys and two girls and attempted murders of five boys and five girls are alleged to have taken place between June 2015 and June 2016.

Letby was arrested three times in connection with the deaths before she was charged in November 2020.

Opening her trial at Manchester Crown Court, prosecutor Nick Johnson said beginning in 2015, the hospital saw a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying or suffering “serious catastrophic collapses.”

Family members of some of Letby’s alleged victims sat in the courtroom, while Letby’s parents were also present.

The children, whose named are not being revealed during the trials, are being referred to as letters – from A to Q, as per Economic Times.

“Babies who had not been unstable at all suddenly deteriorated. Sometimes babies who had been sick, but then been on the mend suddenly deteriorated for no apparent reason,” he told the jury.

He said that when doctors couldn’t find a cause, police were called in and conducted a review that suggested someone in the neonatal unit had poisoned two infant boys with insulin two days after they were born. The two boys’ blood sugar levels dropped to dangerous levels, Johnson said, but both survived after help from medical staff.

Johnson said Letby was on duty when both were poisoned. He added that prosecutors believed the collapses and deaths of all 17 babies were the work of Letby, who he described as a “constant malevolent presence” at the hospital’s neonatal unit when the children collapsed or died.

The first baby allegedly targeted by Letby was a prematurely born boy who was killed at just a day old in June 2015, Johnson said.

The boy’s mother arrived in the neo-natal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, northwest England, on the evening of 4 August, 2015, to find her son “distressed” and bleeding from the mouth.

‘Trust me, I’m a nurse’

But Lucy Letby said “trust me, I’m a nurse” and asked her to leave, prosecutor Nick Johnson told Manchester Crown Court.

The young boy died the following day, allegedly by an injection of air into the bloodstream.

Johnson told a jury that the unwitting mother was “fobbed off” by Letby, 32, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges, and attempting to kill 10 other babies, including some more than once.

The prosecutor alleged that Letby injected air into the bloodstream of the child, and a medical expert said the most likely reason for the baby’s collapse was air administered deliberately “by someone who knew it would cause significant harm.”

The lawyer said Letby, originally from Hereford in western England, made “fraudulent” nursing notes after the event in an attempt to cover her tracks.

She also searched social media for the family of the boy, referred to in court as “Child E” in the days and months afterwards, including on Christmas Day.

Hours after “Child E” died on August 5, 2015, Letby allegedly tried to kill his twin brother “Child F” by injecting insulin into a bag of feeding fluids.

Johnson said negligence had been ruled out, as no other baby on the ward had been prescribed insulin and Letby hung up the bag and was in the room at the time the boy was poisoned.

“The only credible candidate” to be the poisoner was Letby, he said, “the same person who was present at all the unexplained collapses and deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital on the neo-natal unit.”

The court was told that the first victim – “Child A” – was born prematurely and just one day old when he died on June 8, 2015, again following an injection of air into the bloodstream.

His twin sister – “Child B” – survived an attempt hours later, while “Child C” – a five-day-old baby boy – was killed six days later when air was injected into his stomach.

Letby was on shift on all three occasions.

Her next victim – a premature baby girl, “Child D” – died on 22 June, 2015, again by the same method, it was alleged.

The prosecution said Letby sent messages to friends afterwards, explaining that the cases could be explained by natural causes.

She also again searched Facebook for the child’s parents.

In September that year, Letby allegedly tried three times to kill a baby girl who had been born four months previously weighing just over 500 grams.

The prosecution said the baby – referred to as “Child G” – was fed excessive amounts of milk and probably injected with air, causing her to vomit.

On the third occasion, she stopped breathing.

But Johnson said a monitor to measure oxygen saturation levels and heart rate levels had been switched off and Letby, who had “discovered” the unresponsive child, was trying to revive her.

The child had been left “severely disabled”, he added.

Johnson said all the deaths and collapses were “not naturally occurring or random events”.

“They were deliberate attempts to kill using slightly different methods by which Lucy Letby sought to give the appearance of chance events,” he added.

With inputs from agencies

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