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On Monday, a British nurse is set to be sentenced for the murder of seven newborn babies and the attempted murder of six others under her care.
Lucy Letby, aged 33, has been found guilty of the tragic deaths of five baby boys and two baby girls, solidifying her as the most notorious child serial killer in modern UK history.
Her apprehension came after a series of infant fatalities within the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital, located in northwest England, spanning from June 2015 to June 2016.
According to the prosecution’s case, Letby targeted her vulnerable and often prematurely born victims through methods such as injecting them with air, overfeeding them with milk, or administering fatal doses of insulin.
After a trial that commenced in October, a jury at Manchester Crown Court concluded their deliberations lasting over 100 hours on Friday.
The jury acquitted Letby of two counts of attempted murder, and they were unable to reach verdicts on six other counts of attempted murder.
However, the several guilty verdicts for murder ensure that Letby now confronts the possibility of spending the rest of her life behind bars.
In August, Letby struggled to hold back tears while standing in the dock, as the jury pronounced their initial guilty verdicts.
However, she was not present in court for the final verdicts and remained absent when her sentencing commenced on Monday.
Due to Letby’s nonattendance, she will be unable to hear the victim impact statements from the families detailing how her actions have profoundly affected them.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his condemnation, stating that it is “cowardly for individuals who commit such heinous crimes to evade facing their victims.”
The head of the primary opposition party, former chief prosecutor Keir Starmer, pledged to address the “unjustly exploited loophole” by taking corrective measures if elected to governmental power.
The judge is anticipated to deliver the verdict on Monday afternoon.
In a joint statement released last week, the families of Letby’s victims acknowledged that “justice has been served,” but stressed that it “cannot alleviate the profound hurt, anger, and distress we have all had to endure.” They also pointed out that the outcome was bittersweet, as certain families did not receive the expected verdicts.
The initial infants allegedly targeted by Letby were twins. A male infant, identified as child A, tragically passed away a day after his birth in early June 2015, while his older sister survived an attempted murder.
Subsequently, after the deaths of two triplet brothers within a single day in June 2016, Letby was reassigned from the neonatal unit to clerical responsibilities.
Two years later, in July 2018, Letby was taken into custody for the first time. Her formal charge and detention followed her third arrest in November 2020, Letby’s motives remain obscure.
During the trial, the prosecution depicted Letby as a “calculating” individual who “gaslighted” her colleagues into believing that the spate of baby deaths was merely a result of unfortunate events.
The jury learned that Letby was present during each baby’s collapse while on duty. Some of the infants were attacked shortly after their parents left their cribs.
The court was informed that Letby displayed an unusual level of interest in the families of her victims, conducting searches for them on social media. She even sent a condolence card to the grieving parents of a child for which she was eventually found guilty of murder.
Among the evidence presented in court were handwritten notes discovered during police searches at Letby’s residence, one of which contained the chilling message “I am evil, I did this,” written in capital letters.
Letby consistently denied causing harm to the infants.
The UK government has initiated an independent inquiry into the case, focusing on how the concerns of medical professionals were addressed by hospital administration.
Hospital executives have faced criticism for not taking prompt action on the concerns raised about Letby, which purportedly began as early as 2015 according to senior doctors.
