18 August 2023 , 13:15
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Police investigating Lucy Letby's crimes against defenceless babies have already launched an entirely new investigation into her five-year medical career, it has been reported.
The 33-year-old Angel of Death was working at the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital where she methodically harmed the infants in her care. At Manchester Crown Court today (Friday, August 18) a jury found her guilty of seven counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder.
A team of officers from Cheshire Police had begun a huge investigation of thousands of medical files across two hospitals before the murder charges had even gone to trial. They cover Letby's time at two hospitals, and also allegedly involve parents who have come forwards with their own suspicions that their children are unidentified victims,
A senior detective has warned that Letby operated "in plain sight" and “grossly abused” the trust of parents, colleagues and friends and used it as cover to commit her crimes.
Letby, 33, from Hereford, attacked her infant victims while employed in her role as a Band 5 nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit.
Lucy Letby guilty of murdering 7 babies as Angel of Death faces life sentence
Det Supt Paul Hughes, who led Operation Hummingbird, the investigation into Letby, said: “From 2012 through to 2016, there were more than 4,000 admissions of babies into the neonatal units of both the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital for us to work through.
“This does not mean we are investigating all 4,000, it just means that we are committed to a thorough review of every admission from a medical perspective, to ensure nothing is missed throughout the entirety of her employment as a nurse. Only those cases highlighted as concerning medically will be investigated further.”
He added: “This investigation remains ongoing, through a transparent and open-minded process. The families of all babies, who are part of this investigation, have been informed and are supported.”
Officers from Cheshire Police sifted through tens of thousands of medical records, interviewed more than 2,000 people and read more than half a million pages of digital data before Letby was charged.
They also liaised with detectives who investigated nurse Victorina Chua, 57, who was found guilty of murdering two patients and poisoning 20 others with insulin between 2011 and 2012 at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
Det Chief Insp Nicola Evans, the deputy senior investigating officer, said they were stunned when they realised Letby was a serial baby killer.
She said: “It is really hard for everybody to believe that somebody would do this. And that's how the investigation team felt.
“At the beginning, we hoped we wouldn't find a criminal offence, because that meant that we were going to go and tell parents that their children had been murdered.”
She added: “It's been a long and emotional investigation for everybody involved.
“Clearly at the heart of that are the families of the babies.”
Police fear killer nurse Lucy Letby has many more helpless victims
Deputy senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Evans, of Cheshire Police, said: “Lucy Letby was operating in plain sight. She abused the trust of the people around her, not just the parents that had entrusted her with their babies but also the nurses she worked with and the people that she regarded as friends.
“These events that have happened, some of them would take absolutely no time at all and nobody was looking. Because why would they expect that this would occur?
“It wouldn’t even cross your mind that in a hospital setting where you put your trust in nurses and doctors to look after your baby that anybody on that unit would be harming that baby.
“Lucy Letby was in a position of trust and she grossly abused that trust in such an unforgiving way that has affected so many people … and she used that trust as a cover to commit her crimes.”
How Britain's worst modern day child killer was caught
May 2017: The Countess of Chester Hospital Foundation Trust contacted Cheshire Constabulary regarding neonatal services at the hospital. This was in relation to a greater number of baby deaths and non-fatal collapses than normally expected during the period of June 2015 and June 2016. The hospital also made the Constabulary aware of a number of independent reviews that they had commissioned into these deaths. As a result of this information, the force launched an investigation.
3 July 2018: Lucy Letby, who worked as a nurse within the Neonatal Unit at the hospital, was arrested at her home in Chester in connection with the ongoing investigation. She was arrested on suspicion of murder in relation to 8 babies who died and attempted murder in relation to 6 babies. She was subsequently bailed pending further enquiries.
10 June 2019: Letby was re-arrested at the home of her parents in Hereford on suspicion of the same offences (murder in relation to 8 babies who died and attempted murder in relation to 6 babies). She was also arrested in connection with the attempted murder of 3 additional babies. She was bailed again pending further enquiries.
10 November 2020: Letby was re-arrested at the home of her parents in Hereford on suspicion of murder in relation to the deaths of 8 babies and the attempted murder of 9 babies. On 11 November 2020 Letby was charged with 8 counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder. The charges relate to the period of June 2015 to June 2016.
October 2021: The 31-year-old pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was set to face a trial from 4 October 2022 at Manchester Crown Court.
June 2022: During a further case management hearing, CPS offered no evidence in relation to one of the murder charges. This means that Letby was charged with 7 counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder. It relates to a baby where Letby was charged with both murder and attempted murder against this same child. In this case, the attempted murder charge remained.