A British nurse who was found guilty of murdering seven newborn babies in a hospital last week will spend the rest of her life in prison. “This was a cruel act involving the smallest and most vulnerable children,” said the judge, who sentenced her to life imprisonment with no prospect of release.
Lucy Letby, 33, killed five boys and two girls at Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester between 2015 and 2016. She also attempted murder on six babies. During the trial it emerged that Letby poisoned several victims by, for example, injecting them with insulin or forcing them to drink milk. She usually committed the offenses during her night shifts.
According to the prosecutor, Letby tried to cover up her crimes by changing the way she tried to kill or injure the children.
Lucy Letby’s case was reviewed by a jury. The jurors passed the verdict according to BBC News after a deliberation of more than 110 hours. The judge then passed on the sentence. “There was a deep malice bordering on sadism in your actions. You’re not sorry. There are no mitigating factors,” the judge said on Monday.
Handwritten note
“I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to take care of them,” read a handwritten note found by police officers at Letby’s home after she was arrested in 2018. “I am a terribly bad person,” she also wrote. Justice saw this as a literal confession, yet the nurse denied everything during the trial.
The British Department of Health announced after the jury’s verdict that it would investigate the case further, so that parents of the deceased children and other surviving relatives ‘get the answers they need’. The investigation will focus, among other things, on the safety protocols in the hospital and how these were not followed.
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