Baby killer Lucy Letby's 'violent' prison home and plan for dying days
Twisted serial killer Lucy Letby's "cruel and calculated" crimes appalled the nation.
The former NHS neonatal nurse, 34, became the fourth woman in Britain to be handed a whole-life order, which is reserved for only the most heinous crimes. However, Letby is due back in court next month in an appeal to challenge her convictions.
The ex-nurse was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others. Her campaign of terror on innocent infants in her care took place between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where she deliberately harmed babies by injecting them with air and insulin or overfeeding them with milk.
Lawyers for Letby will ask senior judges for permission to bring an appeal against all her convictions at the hearing in London provisionally listed for April 25. It comes more than five years after she was escorted out of her child-like bedroom and put into the back of a police car in handcuffs.
What followed was a lengthy 10-month trial before she was put behind bars with the ultimate sentence, meaning she would die in prison. Letby, a Category A prisoner with a target on her head, started her jail time at HMP Low Newton, in Durham before being transferred to HMP Bronzefield in Surrey.
Lucy Letby guilty of murdering 7 babies as Angel of Death faces life sentence
Her parents attended each day of the Manchester Crown Court trial (PA)
One of the general population prison cells in HMP Low Newton (HMP Low Newton)Bronzefield is the largest women's prison in Europe, where Rose West spent time before being transferred. Current inmates include Shauna Hoare, who was found guilty of manslaughter for the killing of Becky Watts in 2015; and the al-Qaeda fanatic Roshonara Choudhry, who stabbed Labour MP Stephen Timms in 2010. Meanwhile, Low Newton, a maximum security prison, has housed female killers Joanna Dennehy, Rose West, Bernadette McNeilly, and the mother of tragic tot Baby P, Tracey Connelly.
A former inmate of Bronzfield, Sophie Campell, claimed her time at the women's prison was so disturbing that she was compelled to write a memoir about it, Breakfast At Bronzefield. The woman, who was convicted of GBH on a police officer, said violence was commonplace within the jail's walls.
Releasing her story in 2020, she claimed: "I couldn't believe how offenders were treated by the officers. You wonder how they got away with a lot of it – neglecting inmates in their cells, depriving them of their meals, not giving them much-needed medical attention, or being too rough during searches."
She added: "As well as same-sex relationships thriving in Bronzefield, some female prisoners were engaging in sexual favours with the officers to get drugs or food, and that was a real shock for me. It's so horrible how normalised it is, often gossiped and giggled about. Violence is everywhere. It puts you on edge. You have to be alert as a situation can escalate rapidly. That's why you learn to adopt a new code of conduct inside."
She also spoke of witnessing a woman having boiling hot water thrown over her face during her first few weeks, adding: "It rattles you. You know it could be you – say the wrong thing, or look at the wrong person and you could be burned and blistered and never offered medical treatment."
Experts said that Letby will have 'restricted status' for an inmate, which is considered the female equivalent of Category A - meaning she is the highest-risk threat to the public. It was also said she would be on suicide watch for some months and that it will be a while before she is integrated with other prisoners.
She started off her whole life sentence living in the hospital wing of the prison while they assessed her mental and physical health, experts said, and as a way of protecting her safety from other inmates. Eventually, she'll be moved into her own cell, they predicted. This is a routine procedure for every inmate found guilty of murder, on the assumption that anyone who faces decades in prison will contemplate taking their own life. It can take place in a number of forms - from CCTV cameras watching Letby to direct supervision from officers, noting her moves every 10 minutes.
"She'll be what's known as a 'restricted status' prisoner," Mark Leech, a prisons expert and editor of The Prison Oracle website told the Telegraph. "She'll be on suicide watch and it will be some time before she gets to mingle with the main prison population - at least six months."
Most of her human interaction will be through her cell hatch (Getty Images/iStockphoto)She may also receive extra care and attention at HMP Low Newton, which boasts the 'Primrose Project' - designed to treat women with "dangerous and severe personality disorders". It is the only prison in the UK with such a unit. While Letby will be considered a threat to herself, she will be a possible target for others for the rest of her life.
Professor Yvonne Jewkes, professor of criminology at the University of Bath, says Letby will have a price on her head. "At best, she'll be subjected to extreme bullying and intimidation. At worst, she might be in quite considerable physical danger," she told the Telegraph.
Police fear killer nurse Lucy Letby has many more helpless victims
For that reason, it'll be a lonely ride for Letby, who will have very little human contact. "She'll associate mostly with prison officers, her key worker in the prison and one or two cleaners, but much of that interaction will be through the hatch in her cell door," Leech added.
She'll be spending at least 22 hours a day inside her single cell - approximately 1.8 metres wide by three metres in length. Inside the cell, Lucy, who will be forced to wear a prison uniform of grey joggers and a sweater, will have a single bed, a storage unit, a chair, and a toilet.
Due to her confinement, it's likely she will be encouraged by staff to be mentally stimulated to avoid extreme stress, anger, and frustration. Her life of solitude will be filled with reading stories about others - she will be able to read newspapers, books, and watch TV, but not much else. And for an hour a day, she will be able to exercise, walking the prison grounds. Lucy will, however, be able to speak to her family and receive visits, which will be vetted by police, though they will be few and far between. A convicted prisoner is usually allowed at least two 1-hour visits every four weeks.
Her parents, Susan and John, from Chester, were there at Manchester Crown Court for each day of her 10-month trial, so it's likely they will keep returning to check in on their daughter. Letby won't be able to receive emails directly, but she can receive messages through the Email a Prisoner service.
They're printed out and delivered by prison staff, with each email costing 40p from Letby's prison cash card. There is no limit on the number of letters she can send and receive however, although most are checked by prison staff. When it comes to phone calls, she will only be able to speak to those named on her friends and family list. And as this needs to be checked by security, it'll take a few days following her arrival for her to be able to make a call.
In time, it is expected that she would be integrated into groups, such as reading clubs or cooking classes, like Rose West, who is said to have become a star baker. It is thought that the professionals will want to keep her busy, and even encourage her to do an Open University degree.
Her diet will now be dictated by the chef's selection of hot meals and lunches, with an Independent Monitoring Board report, published in 2021, saying that Low Newton provided food that was "nutritious, well cooked and of good variety". Later in life, it is expected for Letby to be moved to a lower-security prison to see out her final days before her death behind bars.
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