25 August 2023 , 16:52
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A hospital boss accused of ignoring warnings about Lucy Letby claims she was duped by the "calculating" serial baby killer.
Karen Rees has broken her silence after Letby was jailed and given a whole-life jail term on Monday. Ms Rees has admitted she thought Letby was innocent until the end of the trial.
The 33-year-old, from Hereford, preyed on her defenceless victims between June 2015 and June 2016 - murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another six tots - she will die in prison.
As head of nursing for urgent care at the Countess of Chester Hospital Ms Rees was one of Letby's direct line managers.
When Letby was suspended in 2016 the pair would meet regularly where she said the neonatal nurse was 'in complete distress, crying and swearing her innocence'.
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(PA)Ms Rees told The Times: "She was very convincing. I now know that this was a calculated and successful attempt to make me believe her story, and I was deceived, as were so many others."
Now retired Ms Rees said she now had 'no doubt' of Letby's guilt after she was convicted by a jury of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six more.
During the 10-month long trial jurors at Manchester Crown Court heard how doctors repeatedly raised concerns about Letby's connection to a series of suspicious deaths and collapses. It took more than a year before she was eventually removed from the neonatal unit which ended her killing spree.
The court heard how Ms Rees refused a request from Dr Stephen Brearey, a consultant paediatrician, to have Letby taken off the ward in June 2016 - only for a baby to collapse the following day. She claims her 'recollections are different' and says no performance issues had been raised until she was contacted by Dr Brearey on June 24, 2016.
The 33-year-old preyed on her defenceless victims between June 2015 and June 2016 (Chester Standard / SWNS.com)Ms Rees admits she went for coffee with Letby in the two years after her suspension. When the hospital chief retired in 2018 Letby went to her leaving party. She was arrested four months later.
Ms Rees said: "I did not attend the trial so I had an incomplete picture until the verdicts were announced, and more detail provided."
Ms Rees won an outstanding achievement award by the trust on October, 2, 2015 — weeks after Letby attempted to murder two babies. She won another internal award in 2017 as the nurse of the year at the trust's annual Celebration of Achievement Awards.
Dr Susan Gilby, the Countess of Chester Hospital's former medical director, has said failures to deal with complaints about Letby 'more likely than not' led to the deaths of babies.
Letby being arrested at her home in Hereford (Cheshire Police)She told The Telegraph: "The evidence we'd seen and the discussions I have with paediatricians led us to be concerned that there were lessons to be learned." Dr Gilby was suspended last December and since resigned.
Letby refused to attend court for sentencing. Mr Justice Goss told the court in her absence: "There was a malevolence bordering on sadism in your actions. During the course of this trial you have coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing. You have no remorse. There are no mitigating factors."
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Sentencing her to a whole-life order for each offence, he said: "You will spend the rest of your life in prison." The judge told her she would be provided copies of his remarks and the personal statements of the families of her victims. He added: "You killed seven fragile babies and attempted to kill six others. Some of your victims were only a day or a few days old. All were extremely vulnerable."