British nurse convicted of killing seven infants.
On Friday, a neonatal nurse working in a British hospital, Lucy Letby, aged 33, was pronounced guilty of causing the deaths of seven babies and attempting to harm six additional infants. Letby faced charges of murdering five boys and two girls, as well as attempting to murder six other children during her employment at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England from 2015 to 2016.
Allegations were made that she intentionally inflicted harm on newborns using different methods, such as injecting air into their blood vessels and introducing air or milk into their stomachs through nasogastric tubes.
"Lucy Letby aimed to mislead her coworkers, disguising the harm she inflicted as mere exacerbations of each baby's preexisting fragility. Under her care, seemingly harmless substances such as air, milk, fluids, or even medications like insulin turned deadly. She twisted her training and transformed her profession into a tool for causing distress, sorrow, and death," declared prosecutor Pascale Jones.
"Repeatedly, she caused harm to infants within an environment that was meant to be secure for them and their families," Jones stated in a released statement on Friday after the verdict was delivered.
Letby faced allegations of poisoning infants through the introduction of insulin into intravenous feeds and tampering with breathing tubes.
Letby refuted all accusations. According to British law, the identities of the purported victims cannot be disclosed.
After a deliberation period of 22 days, a panel comprising seven women and four men arrived at the verdict. During the deliberations, one juror was excused due to personal reasons. Subsequently, the presiding judge offered the remaining 11 jurors the choice to reach a decision with the agreement of 10 members instead of requiring a unanimous consensus.
Letby was acquitted of one count of attempted murder, and the jury was unable to come to a decision on several other charges.
The initial infant reportedly singled out by Letby was a prematurely born boy who passed away within a day of his birth in June 2015. According to the prosecution, Letby was accused of introducing air into his bloodstream.
An inquiry into the infant fatalities at the hospital was initiated by the police in May 2017. Letby faced arrest three times in connection to these deaths before formal charges were brought against her in November 2020.
Prosecutors highlighted that a Post-It note discovered at Letby's residence following her 2018 arrest, bearing the words "I am evil, I did this," constituted a literal admission.
The sentencing for Letby's convictions is scheduled for 10 a.m. local time on Monday.
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