Lucy Letby was a one time hospital poster girl who committed the worst imaginable crimes.
There appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary about a young woman described witheringly by one senior police officer as “beige”. But behind her sweet smile was the cold heart of what prosecutors said was a “callous” and “devious” killer. On Friday, August 18, Letby was convicted of murdering seven helpless babies in her care, and trying to kill six more. She was also found not guilty on two further attempted murder charges.
Letby, a single child, was born in Hereford on January 4 1990. Her mum and dad, former furniture salesman John Letby, 77, and retired accounts clerk Susan Letby, 63, attended every day of the trial. Letby said she sometimes found her loving parents’ affections “suffocating”.
In a message to a friend, who had joked about emigrating to New Zealand, she said: “I couldn’t leave my parents. They would be completely devastated. Find it hard enough being away from me now and it's only 100 miles. I came here to uni & didn’t go back. They hate it & I feel guilty for staying here sometimes but it’s what I want.”
She told another pal: “My parents worry massively about everything & anything, hate that I live alone etc. I feel bad because I know it’s really hard for them especially as I’m an only child, and they mean well, just a little suffocating at times and constantly feel guilty.”
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Letby was poster girl for the Countess of Chester Hospital’s Babygrow Appeal for the neonatal unit. (Chester Standard / SWNS.com)She attended Ayleston School and Hereford Sixth Form College in her home city. One former classmate said: “Lucy was quiet but lovely, she was actually a very kind person so to think she is involved in this is hard to believe, no one can believe. She was a good student, quiet and kind.”
Letby told her trial she had always wanted to work with children and was the first person in her family to go to college. She studied nursing at Chester University and did work placements at the Countess of Chester Hospital. After graduating in 2011 she started there full time from January 2012 as a Band 5 nurse. She appeared on course for a successful career and in 2013 became the poster girl for the hospital’s Babygrow Appeal, a fundraiser for the neonatal unit.
Alongside a smiling photo, Letby told a local newspaper: “My role involves caring for a wide range of babies requiring various levels of support. Some are here for a few days, others for many months and I enjoy seeing them progress and supporting their families.”
Initially she lived in the on-site nurses accommodation at Ash House before moving to a rented house in Chester in April 2014. In June 2015 she returned to Ash House and then moved into her home in Westbourne Road, Chester, on April 6 2016. To her colleagues and friends she was a hard working nurse who volunteered for extra shifts, using the money she earned to save for the deposit for £178,950 three bed semi near the hospital.
It had a neat back garden with climbing roses. Her kitchen noticeboard was covered with photos of family members and notes, one of which, written by a child, said: "No. 1 Godmother Awarded to Lucy Letby”. There was also a birthday card, jokingly 'sent' from her cats, which said: “Happy Birthday mummy. Love Tigger and Smudge.” She kept cuddly toys in her bedroom, including Winnie-the-Pooh and Eeyore.
Police outside Letby's home in Chester (PA)Fairy lights were hung over her bedstead, her duvet cover was embroidered with the words "sweet dreams” and framed prints on the wall had the words “Leave Sparkles Wherever You Go” and “Shine Like A Diamond”. She went to the gym, salsa and hula hoops classes, watched Corrie, Strictly Come Dancing and Love Island, was a member of a local pub quiz team and went on holiday with friends to Ibiza.
In the summer of 2015 she was at a colleague’s hen party in York. She would also often join her parents on their three times a year trip to Torquay, Devon. In July 2018, they had returned from one such break and Mr Letby was staying overnight at his daughter’s home when police knocked on the door at 6am to arrest her. Letby did not have a long-term lover but had struck up a close relationship with a married colleague, who cannot be named.
A note found Letby's home (PA)They enjoyed days out in London and often texted each other during and after work. She was said to have had a “crush” on him and the prosecution called him her “boyfriend”. Letby insisted: “I loved him as a friend. I wasn’t in love with him.”
But when he gave evidence at court from behind a screen, she became upset and tried to leave the dock. The prosecution claimed she murdered two premature triplets less than 24 hours apart to get his attention. She denied attacking the children because she “enjoyed being in a crisis situation” with the medic. And she said their friendship "fizzled out" in the months before her arrest.
The corridor within the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit (PA)In 2015 she was diagnosed with optic neuritis, a condition caused by inflammation of the optic nerve which can cause pain and blurred vision. She received treatment at the Countess and also at the Walton Centre in Liverpool before the issue was “resolved”. In June 2016 she confided to a doctor colleague about a problem with an underactive thyroid.
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She told him: “I’ve been hypothyroid since I was 11, having blips last 12 months, just increased dose again to see if that does the trick…last time it was increased I was over treated & had tremors etc..”
The court heard since her arrest she had been diagnosed with PTSD and was prescribed antidepressants. She told the court: “I’m very sensitive to any noise, any unexpected change or new people. I am easily startled, easily frightened of things.”
To her colleagues and friends she was a hard working nurse who volunteered for extra shiftsLetby was allowed by the judge to settle into her seat when she gave evidence over 14 days - before members of the public and the press were allowed into court. At the end of each session the public gallery was cleared before prison officers returned her to the dock.
Her trial heard that Letby made a three-hour round trip from HMP New Hall in Wakefield and would get up at 5.30am to be at court on time. She said she had been in four prisons since she was charged in November 2020.
Before the jury was sworn in the court heard Letby was left “incoherent” and “can’t speak properly” after she was moved from HMP Bronzefield in Surrey to HMP New Hall on the Friday afternoon before the start of the trial last October.
Letby was said to have found the move “traumatising” as none of her possessions initially came with her. During the trial she walked into the dock each morning clutching a purple blanket, a pink blanket and a file of paperwork. She studiously followed the medical evidence and occasionally passed notes to her legal team.
Det Chief Insp Nicola Hughes, the deputy SIO on the case, described Letby as “beige”. She said: “There isn't anything kind of outstanding or outrageous that we found about her as a person. And I think that has come across in the trial in that she was an average nurse. She was what you would say was a normal 20 something doing what she was doing in her career and with her friends. But clearly, there was another side of that that nobody saw, and that we have unravelled during this investigation and during the trial.”
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