UK Nurse Found Guilty of Murdering Newborns in Hospital Unit


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A British nurse has been convicted of killing seven newborn babies and attempting to murder six others in the neonatal unit of the hospital where she worked, making her the UK's most prolific child killer.

The trial against Lucy Letby, aged 33, which began in October of the previous year, accused her of injecting air into her sick or premature victims, overfeeding them with milk, and poisoning them with insulin, according to Al Jazeera.

Families of the victims issued a joint statement outside Manchester Crown Court, expressing their shock and stating, "Justice has been served." However, they also emphasized that the pain and distress they've experienced would not be erased.

The jury deliberated for 22 days, rendering the first guilty decisions on August 8. Letby, who had denied harming the infants, showed emotion as the initial verdicts were read. She was absent from the court when the final determinations were announced.

Although Letby was acquitted of two counts, the jury could not reach decisions on six others. Prosecutors requested 28 days to decide whether to seek a retrial on those charges.

Letby is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday. Despite reportedly stating to her lawyers that she won't attend the court hearing her fate, she faces the possibility of life imprisonment without parole.

Letby's arrest followed a series of infant deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit in northwest England between 2015 and 2016.

Prosecutors depicted Letby as a "calculating" individual who employed methods that left minimal traces. She allegedly manipulated colleagues into believing the deaths were coincidental.

The prosecution stated that Letby's last victims were triplet boys known as babies O and P. Child O died shortly after her return from Ibiza in 2016, while child P passed away a day after their sibling. She was also accused of attempting to murder the third triplet, child Q, but the jury did not reach a verdict on this charge.

Investigators found hospital paperwork and a handwritten note at Letby's home, on which she had written, "I am evil, I did this." She later explained that she wrote it after being assigned clerical duties following the death of the two triplets.

Letby's case evoked memories of notorious medical murderers in the UK, such as doctor Harold Shipman and nurse Beverley Allitt. Shipman, a general practitioner, was convicted of killing 15 patients through lethal morphine injections. Allitt, known as the "angel of death," was sentenced to life in prison in 1993 for murdering four children and attempting to murder three others.