LUCY LETBY FOUND GUILTY OF TRYING TO KILL ANOTHER BABY
Child serial killer Lucy Letby was on Tuesday found guilty of trying to murder another premature baby less than two hours after she was born.
The former neonatal nurse was already Britain's most prolific baby killer after last year being convicted of murdering seven children and trying to kill six others.
On Tuesday a jury found the 34-year-old guilty of attempting to murder her 14th victim at the Countess of Chester Hospital – a tiny baby girl born 15 weeks early in February 2016, weighing 1lbs 8oz.
The Mail can reveal Letby was originally charged with murdering the infant – know as Baby K – who died at four days old after being transferred to another hospital.
But prosecutors downgraded the charge to attempted murder before the original trial began in October 2023, amid concerns they could not prove Letby's attack – which involved her deliberately dislodging the child's breathing tube – caused her death.
The jury failed to reach a verdict in Baby K's case and a retrial was ordered.
On Tuesday, Baby K's parents, who have attended every day of the three-week retrial at Manchester Crown Court, sobbed as the jury foreman delivered the guilty verdict.
A female jury member also dabbed away tears. But Letby, who is serving a whole-life tariff and will never be freed, showed no emotion from her seat in the glass-panelled dock.
Baby K's parents said in a statement: 'Words cannot explain how we are feeling. To lose a baby is a heartbreaking experience no parent should ever go through, but to lose a baby and then learn of the harm that was inflicted is unimaginable.
'Over the past seven to eight years we've had to go on a long, tortuous and emotional journey – twice.
'From losing our precious newborn and grieving her loss, to being told years later her death or collapse might be suspicious, nothing can prepare you for that.
'Justice has been served but this justice will not take away the extreme hurt, anger and distress we've all had to experience.
'We are heartbroken, devastated, angry and feel numb. We may never truly know why this happened.'
Detectives are reviewing 4,000 babies Letby cared for at the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women's Hospital, where she trained.
Dr Dewi Evans, an expert witness in the first trial, previously said he believed Letby experimented with tampering with the breathing tubes of babies before beginning her year-long murder spree in June 2015.
Sources have told the Mail police are considering some 40 more cases, as well as probing the Countess for corporate manslaughter.
A public inquiry into how Letby was allowed to remain on the neonatal unit, despite the concerns of senior doctors, is due to start in September.
Letby has consistently maintained her innocence and in May was refused permission to appeal against last year's convictions.
Judge Mr Justice Goss told Letby she would be sentenced on Friday.
She controversially refused to come up from the cells to hear her punishment when she was convicted first time around, denying the parents of her victims the chance to tell her directly about the anguish she had caused.
She also escaped hearing the damning sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Goss. But before her retrial began last month, Letby was finally forced to listen to the judge's comments in public when they were read aloud during legal argument.
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC spent seven minutes quoting Mr Justice Goss, who described the 'enduring grief' suffered by the parents of the 'cherished' babies, who'd suffered 'acute pain and death' because of her 'cunning and... murderous intent'.
Mr Johnson read the comments in response to Letby's application to have the attempted murder charge dismissed before the retrial. Ben Myers KC, defending, argued it was 'impossible' for Letby to get a fair trial because of the 'prejudice' caused by the volume of publicity and 'utterly hostile (media) coverage' following her convictions.
The judge dismissed the application, and the jury heard Letby tampered with the breathing tube of Baby K less than two hours after she was born at 2.12am on February 17, 2016.
By then Letby had already murdered five babies and tried to kill three others, and her presence on the unit when babies collapsed had provoked suspicion among doctors.
Dr Ravi Jayaram, senior paediatrician on the unit, told the jury he felt 'uncomfortable' after the nurse looking after Baby K nipped away from her cot to update her parents at around 3.45am.
He said he caught Letby 'virtually red-handed' 'doing nothing' as the tot's oxygen levels fell dangerously low.
Letby had silenced the alarm on the machine monitoring Baby K's oxygen levels and her breathing tube had become dislodged, the court heard. Dr Jayaram resuscitated Baby K and the breathing tube was replaced.
But Letby, realising she had almost been caught, moved the tube twice more, this time pushing it further into the baby's airway to try to destabilise her and make it appear she was dislodging it on her own.
Dr Jayaram failed to report the incident to managers or the police, but he and his colleagues added it to their list of suspicious events involving Letby.
Yet she was allowed to continue working for another four months – killing two more babies, brothers from a set of triplets, and harming another three – before being removed at the end of June 2016.
Letby denied dislodging Baby K's breathing tube or turning off the alarm. But the jury of six men and six women took less than three and a half hours to convict her.
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