KILLER nurse Lucy Letby today shouted “I’m innocent” after being handed ANOTHER whole life order for attempting to murder a baby girl.
Letby, 34, became Britain’s most prolific child killer when she murdered seven babies in a year-long reign of terror.
The evil nurse also tried to kill six others on the neo-natal ward of Countess of Chester Hospital.
Letby was today jailed for life after being convicted of attempting to murder a baby girl following a retrial.
She is already serving a whole life order that means she will be never be released from prison.
Despite missing her previous sentencing hearing in a “final act of wickedness”, Letby appeared in the dock at Manchester Crown Court today.
In a harrowing victim impact statement, Baby K’s mum said the day her daughter died, her world “fell apart”.
She told how police got in touch in 2017 to tell the family the baby’s death was under investigation.
The mum said she wondered “how could we let this happen to her?” and described the horror as “unthinkable”.
She also slammed Letby for forcing the family to go through two trials, saying: “The upheaval of Baby K’s death, the six year wait for first trial, eight month trial, the verdict and then learning we were doing it over again was heart-wrenching, but our baby girl needs a voice, we had to, we had no choice.
“Baby K is not here, never will be, we will never have what would give us peace, closure, or a feeling of being complete family unit.
“However, you Lucy Letby, will never hurt another child or have the privilege and joy that children give.”
The monster targeted Baby K by dislodging her breathing tube less than two hours after she was born.
The baby girl had been born “extremely premature” on February 17, 2016 – weighing just 1lb 80z.
Chillingly, Letby was caught “virtually red-handed” trying to murder the tot, who was described as the “epitome of fragility”.
A senior consultant paediatrician saw the nurse standing over the cot “doing nothing” as Baby K’s blood oxygen levels dipped.
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.
“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.”
More than two years later, Letby searched on Facebook for Baby K’s surname – a similar pattern of behaviour for the monster.
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said: “The truth is that Lucy Letby had a fascination with the babies she had murdered and attempted to murder, and with their families.
“She took pleasure in her murderous handiwork.”
But giving evidence, Letby told lie after lie as she claimed she no recollection of the heartbreaking events.
She even continued to maintain her innocence over her previous grisly crimes.
The nurse, who had attempted to get the case thrown out, 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 when she was sentenced last August.
She had been convicted of seven counts of murder following a nine-month trial and 22 days of jury deliberation.
Letby was also found guilty of attempting to murder a further six babies during her year-long killing spree.
The monster used insulin and air to inject newborns while working on the neo-natal 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.”
A probe into whether Letby harmed any other babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital is ongoing.
A corporate manslaughter investigation is also ongoing.
Child A, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby injected air intravenously into the bloodstream of the baby boy. COUNT 1 GUILTY.
Child B, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby attempted to murder the baby girl, the twin sister of Child A, by injecting air into her bloodstream. COUNT 2 GUILTY.
Child C, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said Letby forced air down a feeding tube and into the stomach of the baby boy. COUNT 3 GUILTY.
Child D, allegation of murder. The Crown said air was injected intravenously into the baby girl. COUNT 4 GUILTY.
Child E, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby murdered the twin baby boy with an injection of air into the bloodstream and also deliberately caused bleeding to the infant. COUNT 5 GUILTY.
Child F, allegation of attempted murder. Letby was said by prosecutors to have poisoned the twin brother of Child E with insulin. COUNT 6 GUILTY.
Child G, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby targeted the baby girl by overfeeding her with milk and pushing air down her feeding tube. COUNT 7 GUILTY, COUNT 8 GUILTY, COUNT 9 NOT GUILTY.
Child H, two allegations of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby sabotaged the care of the baby girl in some way which led to two profound oxygen desaturations. COUNT 10 NOT GUILTY, COUNT 11 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child I, allegation of murder. The prosecution said Letby killed the baby girl at the fourth attempt and had given her air and overfed her with milk. COUNT 12 GUILTY.
Child J, allegation of attempted murder. No specific form of harm was identified by the prosecution but they said Letby did something to cause the collapse of the baby girl. COUNT 13 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child K, allegation of attempted murder. The prosecution said Letby compromised the baby girl as she deliberately dislodged a breathing tube. COUNT 14 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT AT ORIGINAL TRIAL, NOW GUILTY AFTER RETRIAL
Child L, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said the nurse poisoned the twin baby boy with insulin. COUNT 15 GUILTY.
Child M, allegation of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby injected air into the bloodstream of Child L’s twin brother. COUNT 16 GUILTY.
Child N, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby inflicted trauma in the baby boy’s throat and also injected him with air in the bloodstream. COUNT 17 GUILTY, COUNT 18 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT, COUNT 19 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child O, allegation of murder. Prosecutors say Letby attacked the triplet boy by injecting him with air, overfeeding him with milk and inflicting trauma to his liver with “severe force”. COUNT 20 GUILTY.
Child P, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said the nurse targeted the triplet brother of Child O by overfeeding him with milk, injecting air and dislodging his breathing tube. COUNT 21 GUILTY.
Child Q, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby injected the baby boy with liquid, and possibly air, down his feeding tube. COUNT 22 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Nicola Wyn Williams, of CPS Mersey Cheshire’s Complex Casework Unit, said: “Lucy Letby has now been sentenced for another dreadful crime – the attempted murder of yet another baby.
“This has been an incredibly difficult, complex and disturbing case. A trained nurse tasked with looking after the most vulnerable babies used her craft and her skills to become a killer.
“She stood by as the parents of the babies she had killed or tried to kill, grieved and pretended to try and comfort them, all along knowing she was the person responsible.
“The savagery of her actions has been difficult for the prosecution team to comprehend and has devastated the lives of the families of these babies.
“We still have no idea why she committed these crimes. But the Crown Prosecution Service does not have to prove a motive, we simply need to prove that the defendant committed the crime.
“Two separate juries have now found her guilty and the sentence passed means she will never be released from prison.
“We know that is little comfort to the families, and our thoughts are with all of them again today.”
