NEW DELHI: Nurse Lucy Letby’s conviction for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others has sent shockwaves across the world. Her youngest victim was just one-day old. The reasons behind the 33-year-old’s actions may never be fully explained, but the jurors were given several possible motives by the prosecution during the 10-month trial, including that Letby “enjoyed playing God” and enjoyed the grief of the parents who had lost their child.
‘Enjoyed playing God’
The prosecutor said Letby “played God” by harming a baby and then being the first to alert her colleagues about the deteriorating health. “She was controlling things. She was enjoying what was going on. She was predicting things that she knew were going to happen. She, in effect, was playing God,” one of the prosecutors said.
In the trial, the prosecutors further suggested that Letby was having a secret relationship with a married doctor at the Countess of Chester Hospital. He was one of the doctors who would be contacted when a baby’s health rapidly deteriorated, which was thought to be a crucial aspect of their relationship. It was implied that she hurt them to receive his “personal attention”, but Letby disagreed. Texts shown to the court revealed the pair messaged regularly, swapping love heart emojis, and met up several times outside work, even after Letby was removed from the neonatal unit in July 2016.
Texts sent by Letby
As reported by the BBC, text messages sent by Letby in the hours after she murdered babies on a neonatal unit were a key part of the evidence against her. They show how she messaged colleagues after she had killed babies, often informing them of the deaths. In turn, she received sympathy and concern.
June 8, 2015: Baby A dies overnight
The day after murdering Baby A, Letby messages colleagues saying she doesn’t want to go back into the nursery or see the parents ★who also had another twin on the unit, Baby B. She attacks Baby B some time before June 11.
Letby: It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Just a big shock for us all. Hard coming in tonight & seeing the parents x x
Letby: Dad was on the floor crying, saying please don’t take our baby away when I took him to the mortuary; it’s just heartbreaking.
June 11
Three days after murdering Baby A, she messages a manager of the neonatal unit, offering to work more shifts, saying she needs to throw herself back in.
Letby: From a confidence point of view, I need to take an ITU baby soon X.
June 13
Five days after Baby A’s murder, and the day before she kills Baby C, Letby has an irritable exchange with a colleague over her manager’s refusal to let her go back to work in intensive care.
She says when she worked at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, she found she needed to go straight back and care for another baby “otherwise the image of the one you lost never goes”. The colleague disagrees, telling her to take a break:
Colleague: I agree with her don’t think it will help. You need a break from full on ITU … It sounds very odd and I would be complete opposite.
Letby: Forget I said anything, I’ll be fine, It’s part of the job just don’t feel like there is much team spirit tonight
The conversation continues into the evening, until 23:09 when Letby signs off saying “Sleep well xx”. Six minutes later, Baby C falls critically ill. Letby had been assigned to a child elsewhere in the unit, but that night she enters the nursery where Baby C is and feeds air into his stomach through a nasogastric tube, causing his collapse.
June 14 ★Baby C dies
Letby has a text conversation with the same colleague she had been speaking to the previous night:
Letby: I was struggling to accept what happened to Baby A. Now, we have lost Baby C overnight and its all a bit much.
Colleague: Hoping you are going to be ok. This isn’t like you. Sending you biggest hugs. Xx
Letby: I just keep seeing them both. No one should have to see and do the thigs we do, It’s heartbreaking. But its not about me. We learn to deal with it. Thank you xxx
To summarize:
★Nurse Lucy Letby’s conviction for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others has shocked the world.
★Prosecutors suggested Letby “enjoyed playing God” and enjoyed the grief of the parents.
★Letby was accused of having a secret relationship with a married doctor.
★Text messages sent by Letby after the murders were used as evidence.
★The messages showed Letby informing colleagues of the deaths and receiving sympathy.
★Letby messaged colleagues after murdering Baby A, expressing difficulty in facing the parents and going back to work.
★Letby offered to work more shifts after murdering Baby A.
★Letby had an exchange with a colleague about returning to work in intensive care.
★Letby messaged a colleague before Baby C fell critically ill.
★Letby texted the colleague after Baby C’s death, expressing struggle and heartbreak.
Follow DelhiBreakings on Google News
Superfast News Coverage by DelhiBreakings.com team.
For Superfast national news and Delhi Breaking Stories visit us daily at https://delhibreakings.com