Britain’s most prolific child killer Lucy Letby found guilty of trying to murder premature baby girl

Britain’s most prolific child killer Lucy Letby was found guilty of trying to murder a premature baby girl at a retrial.

Britain’s most prolific child killer Lucy Letby has been convicted of trying to murder a premature baby girl following a retrial.

The evil nurse was previously convicted of murdering seven babies in a year-long reign of terror at Countess of Chester Hospital.

Letby, 33, also attempted to kill six others and was handed a whole life order that means she will be never be released from prison.

She was on Tuesday convicted of attempting to murder a baby girl by dislodging her breathing tube, The Sun reported.

Jurors at her original trial were unable to reach verdicts on the count - meaning she underwent a retrial.

The court heard Baby K was born “extremely premature” on February 17, 2016 - weighing just 1lb 80z.

Lucy Letby.

Around two hours after she was born, Letby was “caught virtually red-handed” trying to kill the baby.

A senior consultant pediatrician saw the nurse standing over the cot “doing nothing” as Baby K’s blood oxygen levels dipped.

Evil Letby even tampered with the baby’s breathing tube twice more on the same night in a bid to convince her colleagues the tot was dislodging it herself.

Baby K was transported to Arrowe Park Hospital and sadly died three days later - although prosecutors do not believe the nurse caused her death.

The child’s mum wept as she told the court how her baby passed away in her husband’s arms following the horror.

Recalling how she had the “strangest feeling” something was wrong, she added: “The doctor confirmed the worst. I asked if it was just a waiting game now or if she was going to get better.

Lucy Letby during her arrest in July 2018.

“We had a long conversation and she said what happens next was entirely our decision.

“I remember saying to the doctor that she had been poked and prodded from the moment she was born. Her tiny little delicate body had swollen up so much we didn’t want her to be suffering any more.

“We didn’t want to be informed that we’d lost our little girl by alarms on the machines going off. We didn’t want to prolong things any more.

“We made the decision together to switch off the machines and let her go. It was by far the hardest decision of my life.

“One of the staff showed us to a family room where it was peaceful and quiet. Our daughter was wrapped in a blanket and was wearing a little hat. Our daughter was in my husband’s arms when she took her last breath and silently passed away.”

Letby told lie after lie as she gave evidence - even claiming she wasn’t guilty of her previous grisly crimes.

The nurse also said she was “not the sort of person that kills babies”.

Letby became only the fourth woman ever to be handed whole life tariff after Rose West, Joanna Dennehy and Myra Hindley after she was found guilty of murdering seven babies in August last year.

She was also found guilty of attempting to murder a further six babies during her year-long killing spree at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neo-natal unit between June 2015 and June 2016.

The monster used insulin and air to inject newborns while working on the neonatal ward.

The collapses and deaths of the children were not “naturally-occurring tragedies” and instead the gruesome work of “poisoner” Letby.

Her rampage was finally uncovered after staff grew suspicious of the “significant rise” in the number of babies dying or suffering “catastrophic” collapses.

Letby was found to be the “common denominator” among the horrifying incidents.

Officers then searched her three-bedroom home in Chester and discovered a chilling cache of evidence.

The nurse had scribbled haunting notes in diaries and on Post-It notes, including one that read: “I am evil I did this.”

The note added: “I don’t deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them.

“I am a horrible person.”

Speaking after the verdict, Senior Crown Prosecutor Nicola Wyn Williams, of CPS Mersey-Cheshire’s Complex Casework Unit, said: “Lucy Letby has continually denied that she tried to kill this baby or any of the babies that she has been convicted of murdering or attempting to murder.

“The jury has heard all of the detailed evidence including from her in her own defence and formed its own view.

“Our case included direct evidence from a doctor who walked into the nursery to find a very premature baby desaturating with Letby standing by, taking no action to help or to raise the alarm. She had deliberately dislodged the breathing tube in an attempt to kill her.

“Staff at the unit had to think the unthinkable – that one of their own was deliberately harming and killing babies in their care.

“Letby dislodged the tube a further two times over the following few hours in an attempt to cover her tracks and suggest that the first dislodgement was accidental. These were the actions of a cold-blooded, calculated killer.

“The grief that the family of Baby K have felt is unimaginable. Our thoughts remain with them and all those affected by this case at this time.”

This story first appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.