Lucy Letby's mum was heard wailing in court as her baby-killer daughter was found guilty of the first murder charges brought against her, The Mirror can now reveal.
The 33-year-old was working at the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital where she was accused of harming the infants. It can now be reported that a jury has found her guilty of seven counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder. The jury spent 22 days and more than 94 hours deliberating the string of charges levelled against the nurse. She was also found not guilty on two further attempted murder charges.
The jury of seven women and four men - one juror was discharged earlier this month – delivered their verdicts over a series of days at Manchester crown court. But the judge had ordered nothing could be reported until decisions had been made on all 22 charges she faced.
After each verdict was returned in the hushed courtroom, the parents of the babies she murdered and attacked wept and hugged each other in the public gallery. Letby had sobbed in the dock when she was found guilty of two attempted murders on Tuesday last week (Aug 8).
Custody photograph of nurse Lucy Letby (Cheshire Constabulary/AFP via Ge)Three days later, after being convicted of four murders and trying to kill two more children, she had tears streaming down her face as her watching mum Susan, 63, wailed: “You can’t be serious! This can’t be right!”
Gangsters ‘call for ceasefire’ after deadly Christmas Eve pub shooting
Letby denied all the allegations as she gave evidence in the witness box for 14 days during the trial, which began last October. She denied doing anything harmful to any child and that the sudden collapses and deaths could have been due to natural causes, or for some unascertained reason, or from failure by others to provide appropriate care.
The defence said she was a “hard-working, dedicated and caring” nurse who loved her job. During the trial Letby, who is a qualified Band 5 nurse, recalled the moment she received a letter from the Royal College of Nursing to inform her she was being held responsible for the deaths of babies on the neonatal unit at Countess of Chester Hospital.
Trial judge Mr Justice Goss told the jury of seven women and four men to approach their deliberations in a “fair, calm, objective and analytical way”. He told them to cast aside emotion or any feelings of sympathy or antipathy. Mr Justice Goss added: “You are under no pressure with time.” A 12th juror was previously discharged from the jury after being unable to continue for "good personal reasons".
Letby denied seven counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder between June 2015 and June 2016.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
