Lucy Letby, the convicted child killer nurse, has been found guilty of the attempted murder of a prematurely-born baby girl today.
The 34-year-old had been convicted by another jury last August of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
Back then, a verdict on the allegation concerning the infant known as “Child K” could not be reached – and a retrial was ordered on that count, of which Letby was found guilty at Manchester Crown Court today.
Letby had targeted Child K in the early hours of February 17, 2016, after the girl was moved from the hospital’s delivery room to its neo-natal unit just after her premature birth.
The nurse, 34, deliberately dislodged Child K’s breathing tube
PA
Court artist Elizabeth Cook’s drawing of Letby’s cross-examination by prosecutor Nick Johnson KC today
PA
The nurse deliberately dislodged Child K’s breathing tube, through which she was being ventilated with air and oxygen, the prosecution at Manchester Crown Court said.
Dr Ravi Jayaram, a consultant paediatrician at the facility, caught the nurse “virtually red-handed” as he entered the unit’s intensive care room – where he went on to intervene and resuscitate Child K.
Because of her extreme prematurity, Child K was transferred to a specialist hospital later that day – and died there three days later.
Letby had told the jury of six women and six men she had no recollection of any such event.
The Countess of Chester Hospital, where Letby carried out her campaign of crimes
PA
More than two years later, on a late Friday night in April 2018, Letby searched on social media for Child K’s surname.
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said her online activity was part of a pattern of similar Facebook searches.
He told the jury: “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.”
More to follow…
