ISLAMABAD: A British nurse who wrote a note declaring “I am evil” was pronounced guilty of the murder of seven newborn infants and the attempted murder of six others in the neonatal unit of a hospital in the northwest region of England where she was employed.
Lucy Letby, aged 33, has been convicted of murdering five baby boys and two baby girls at the Countess of Chester hospital, as well as assaulting other newborns, all of which occurred during her night shifts between 2015 and 2016.
After an extensive 10-month trial at Manchester Crown Court, the verdict establishes Letby as one of the most prolific serial child killers in Britain.
She was found not guilty of two counts of attempted murder, while the jury was unable to reach a decision on six other suspected attacks.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors told the jury that Letby deliberately administered fatal doses of insulin to some of her infant victims. Others were subjected to injections of air or coerced feeding of milk, enduring multiple assaults before their tragic deaths.
“I intentionally killed them because I’m not capable of caring for them,” a handwritten note stated discovered by police officers during a search of her home following her arrest.
she wrote, “I am a despicable, malevolent person.I AM EVIL I DID THIS.”
Among her victims were twins – she even murdered both siblings in one case. She attempted to kill a baby girl three times before succeeding on the fourth attempt.
Pascale Jones, a senior prosecutor from the Crown Prosecution Service, said,”Lucy Letby was entrusted to protect some of the most vulnerable babies. Little did those working alongside her know that there was a murderer in their midst.”
“She did her utmost to conceal her crimes, by varying the ways in which she repeatedly harmed babies in her care.”
Evil Unveiled as Nurse Lucy Letby is Found Guilty of Baby Killings
Scheduled for sentencing on Monday, Letby faces the prospect of a lengthy prison term, and potentially even the exceptionally rare full life sentence.
Senior medical professionals revealed her actions when they grew alarmed by an unusual number of unexplained fatalities and incidents of collapse in the neonatal unit – a facility that cares for premature or ailing infants – spanning an 18-month period starting in January 2015.
As medical experts struggled to identify a medical rationale, they called in law enforcement for assistance. Following an extensive investigation, they pinpointed Letby, who had been involved in caring for the infants, as the consistent “malevolent presence when circumstances turned dire,” according to prosecutor Nick Johnson.
Online images depicted Letby as a cheerful and joyful individual with an active social life. In one snapshot, she was captured tenderly holding a baby. Nevertheless, the harrowing trial testimony unveiled her identity as a resolute perpetrator.
Lucy Letby’s Shocking Trial: Tears, Denials, and Dark Confessions
The court learned about Letby’s four separate attempts to murder a specific infant girl before ultimately succeeding. When a mother of one victim walked in on Letby assaulting her twin babies, the nurse allegedly reassured her by saying, “Trust me, I’m a nurse.”
After her apprehension, investigators found documentation and medical notes referencing the affected children at her residence. Additionally, she conducted online searches about the parents and families of the deceased infants.
During her 14-day testimony, Letby tearfully maintained that she had never intended harm towards the babies and had solely aimed to provide them with care. She argued that insufficient staffing levels and unsanitary conditions in the ward could have played a role in the fatalities.
“I have never murdered a child or harmed any of them,” she declared. Furthermore, she claimed that four doctors had conspired to shift the blame onto her for the unit’s shortcomings.
Letby confessed to writing the “I am evil” message, stating that she had been overwhelmed and held the belief that she was somehow inadequate or responsible for wrongdoing.
The prosecution depicted her as a callous, calculating deceiver who had frequently modified her recollections, asserting that her notes should be seen as a confession.
Detectives affirmed that they found nothing unusual in Letby’s life and were unable to identify any motive behind her transformation into a perpetrator.
