UK: Nurse Lucy Letby Found Guilty in Attempted Murder

Facts

• Lucy Letby, a British nurse who was last year convicted for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others, was on Tuesday found guilty of the attempted murder of another infant.¹
• The infant, identified as Baby K, was born 15 weeks premature and weighed 692 g (1.52 lbs) when Letby allegedly tampered with her breathing tube at the Countess of Chester Hospital in February 2016. Baby K died three days later.²
• Prosecutors initially charged Letby with murder but reduced the charge to attempted murder because of insufficient evidence. She faced a trial last year, which collapsed after three weeks as the jury couldn't reach a verdict.²
• However, a retrial jury at Manchester Crown Court found Letby guilty after Dr. Ravi Jayaram, a pediatrician, testified that he caught her 'virtually red-handed' — claiming she stood by when the child's oxygen levels dropped.³
• Letby told the court she couldn’t recall the event, denied causing any harm to Baby K, and insisted she was not guilty of the other crimes for which she had already been convicted.³
• The 34-year-old from Hereford is already serving 14 whole-life sentences, which means she will never be considered for parole. She will be sentenced for her latest conviction on Friday.²

Sources: ¹Sky News, ²Guardian and ³BBC News.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Guardian. These were unconscionable crimes committed by a nurse entrusted to look after the most vulnerable patients. She severely abused that trust and was rightly found guilty of these crimes. A thorough inquiry is now taking place to prevent such horrific crimes from happening again.
• Narrative B, as provided by New Yorker. When one thoroughly examines all the evidence, it's clear that the criminal cases against Letby ignored the severe deterioration of conditions in the hospital and an overtaxed staff and couldn’t point to a single instance of Letby being directly involved. Further investigation is needed.