Lucy Letby: police praise nurses who testified in murder trial
Posted 22 August 2023 - 14:37
Officers acknowledge the impact on witnesses, many of whom are nursing colleagues who continue to work on the neonatal unit where the murders occurred
Nurses who worked with convicted murderer Lucy Letby have been praised by police for the strength they showed in testifying in court.
Speaking to the press before the verdict, police said Ms Letby acted ‘under a cover of trust’ and created opportunities to cause harm while she worked on the neonatal ward of the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Police praise the nursing staff who gave evidence at Lucy Letby’s trial
In total, 37 nurses gave evidence during the ten-month trial at Manchester Crown Court. Ms Letby was found guilty on seven counts of murder, and seven counts of attempted murder against six babies, between June 2015 and June 2016.
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Detective chief inspector Nicola Evans, deputy senior investigating officer on Operation Hummingbird, the investigation into deaths on the neonatal unit, said before the verdict: ‘It has been a long and emotional investigation for everybody involved.'
For witnesses, many of whom were Ms Letby’s colleagues at the hospital, the impact personally and professionally ‘has been huge’, she said.
‘This is crushingly sad for everybody involved. When you talk about a murder investigation involving tiny babies that fit in the palm of your hand, that is huge.’
DCI Evans said Ms Letby’s nursing colleagues were under a lot of pressure during the trial but had been ‘really strong and supportive’.
‘The majority of our witnesses are professionals from the Countess of Chester, they are still nurses and doctors on the neonatal unit and they are still caring for tiny babies,’ she said. ‘The emotional impact over such a long period of time is significant.'
Police acknowledge the emotional impact of giving evidence in Letby case
Ms Letby was first arrested by Cheshire Police in July 2018, a year after they were asked to investigate deaths at the hospital’s neonatal unit.
She was charged in November 2020 and at her trial starting in October 2022 pleaded not guilty to seven counts of murder and ten of attempted murder.
The police said they looked at ‘every possible angle’ when they opened the case and had approached experts for alternative explanations of the incidents. They said it was a ‘hard realisation’ when they suspected that the babies had been murdered.
DCI Evans added: ‘Lucy Letby acted under a cover of trust. These events would take absolutely no time at all. And nobody was looking, because why would they? Why would they expect that this would occur?’
Nursing professionals ‘shocked and sickened’ by crimes
Asked about evidence that Ms Letby had carried out her crimes in front of colleagues or with them nearby, detective superintendent Paul Hughes said: ‘When you are outside looking in you think “surely somebody would notice?” But when you listen to the evidence and realise how delicate these babies are… it becomes very clear that somebody with a sinister mind in that environment created opportunities to cause harm.’
Commenting on the verdict, chief nursing officer for England Dame Ruth May said: ‘Lucy Letby committed appalling crimes that were a terrible betrayal of the trust placed in her and our thoughts are with the families affected who have experienced pain and suffering that few of us can imagine.
‘Colleagues within the nursing profession and across the health service have been shocked and sickened to learn what she did – actions beyond belief to the nurses and staff working so hard to save lives and care for patients.’
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