LONDON: A British nu­rse was found guilty on Friday of murdering seven newborn babies and trying to kill six others at the hospital neonatal unit where she worked, becoming the UK’s most prolific child killer.

Lucy Letby, 33, had been on trial since October last year, accused of either injecting her sick or premature young victims with air, overfeeding them with milk or poisoning them with insulin.

In a joint statement read outside Manchester Crown Court in northern England, the victims’ families said: “Justice has been served”, but “this justice will not take away from the extreme hurt, anger and distress we have all had.”

The jury also acquitted her of two counts, and could not reach decisions on six others, while prosecutors asked for 28 days to consider whether to seek a retrial on those charges.

‘Betrayal’

Letby will be sentenced on Monday and has reportedly told her lawyers she would not attend court to hear her fate but she faces the prospect of never being released from prison.

The nurse was arrested following a string of deaths at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between June 2015 and June 2016.

Letby also suggested that a “gang” of four senior doctors pinned blame on her to cover for the hospital’s failings. She insisted she “always wanted to work with children” and said it was “devastating” to find out she was blamed for the deaths.

Police are investigating Letby’s entire tenure at the Countess of Chester and at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2023