A nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the UK has been found guilty of murdering seven newborn babies.
From June 2015 to June 2016, Lucy Letby targeted the most vulnerable babies, culminating in the tragic death of seven newborns and attempts on several others, BBC News has reported.
The emotionally charged nine-month trial was rife with poignant moments. Amid a series of verdicts, both Letby and a jury member were seen shedding tears. Echoes of disbelief resonated in the courtroom as Susan, Letby's mother, whispered, "You can't be serious, this can't be right."
Two of her youngest victims, twins known as Child L and M, had barely begun their lives when they were killed. Their parents, speaking out for the first time, recalled the jarring contrast of Letby's demeanor pre and post the malicious act.
"She was very annoyed with us. She thought that 'I couldn't kill your baby'," the devastated father recounted. His feelings of helplessness palpable as he described the harrowing scene of doctors trying to revive Child M.
Though both twins survived, the repercussions were grim. Child M now grapples with brain damage that threatens to set him apart from his peers in the years to come.
The verdicts brought to light Letby's "cold-blooded" tactics, as labeled by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). She's accused of masterfully manipulating medical tools to instigate collapses among newborns.
Among her victims, many were premature, including Children O and P, two of a set of triplets who tragically didn't make it past their first week.
Pascale Jones of the CPS underscored Letby's betrayal of the trust families place in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). She said, "Behind that angelic smile was a much darker side."
A nurse employed at the hospital told Sky News that when "alarms would go off during the night" there would be a "phrase that people would use". She said co-workers would ask, "I wonder if Lucy's working tonight?".
In the wake of the verdicts, an in-depth investigation by Cheshire Police is underway, probing Letby's actions before 2015 during her tenure at the Countess of Chester Hospital and her training at Liverpool Women's Hospital.
DCI Nicola Evans has since weighed in, stating that the idea of babies being harmed in such settings is "totally unnatural."
She told Sky News that it is "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.
Cheshire Police carried out a two-year investigation into the newborns' deaths before Letby was formally charged in November 2020.
According to authorities, more than half a million medical and digital records were examined. They continue to support the victims' families, many of whom were seen in court during the trial.
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."
Letby insisted the claims against her were false and were being used to cover hospital failings.
