Lucy Letby: Murderous nurse sentenced to life for attempted murder of baby | UK News

The 34-year-old was found guilty by a jury earlier this week following a retrial at Manchester Crown Court.

Killer nurse Lucy Letby has declared “I am innocent” after being sentenced to a new life sentence for the attempted murder of a very premature baby.

The 34-year-old was found guilty by a jury earlier this week, following a retrial at Manchester Crown Court.

She was already serving 14 whole life orders after being convicted last year of murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six other people at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.

However, the jury in her original trial was unable to reach a verdict on the charge that she also attempted to kill a premature baby, known as Baby K, in February 2016.

Letby, from Hereford, angered her victims' families when she refused to attend court to be sentenced to life imprisonment last year.

However, she was present in court on Friday, wearing a black suit and a blue blouse.

Sentencing Letby, Judge Goss told him the attempted murder was “another shocking act of calculated and cruelty”.

He added: “During this trial you have coldly denied any responsibility for any offences and sought to attribute wrongdoing to others.

“You have no remorse.”

After telling Letby she would spend the rest of her life in prison, she turned around as she was led out of the dock and said: “I am innocent.”

Learn more:
Who is Lucy Letby?
How the police caught Letby
Will she ever be released from prison?

“Cold-blooded killer”

At the retrial, the prosecution said Left by had moved Baby K's breathing tube and was caught “practically red-handed” when Dr Ravi Jayaram entered the room.

After the baby recovered, the tube was moved two more times that night, the prosecution said, alleging Letby tried to make it appear that the baby usually moved it herself.

The baby, born at 25 weeks gestation, was transferred to a specialist neonatal unit but died three days later.

Letby's actions are not considered to have caused his death.

In the witness box, Letby told the jury of six women and six men that she had no recollection of the event described by Dr Jayaram and did not accept that it happened.

However, senior crown prosecutor Nicola Wyn Williams, from CPS Mersey-Cheshire's complex case unit, said after the verdict that Letby had committed the actions of a “cold-blooded and calculated killer” when she attempted to murder Baby K.

Letby's motivations remain unclear

In a statement after Letby was sentenced to a further life sentence today, Ms Williams said: “This is an incredibly difficult, complex and disturbing case. A qualified nurse tasked with caring for the most vulnerable babies used her expertise and skills to become a killer.

“She stood by the parents of the babies she had killed or attempted to kill, crying and pretending to try to comfort them, knowing full well that she was the one responsible.

“The savagery of his actions was difficult for the prosecution team to comprehend and devastated the lives of these babies' families.

“We still don't know why she committed these crimes.”

Letby was asked about Facebook searches she did for Baby K's last name, more than two years after he left the neonatal unit.

She had also sought out the parents of other babies she had been convicted of murdering or attempting to murder.

Letby denied having a fascination with families or looking for signs of their grief.

She told the jury: “I am not guilty of what I was found guilty of.”

Baby K's parents gasped and then cried as the verdict was read Tuesday after the jury deliberated for just three and a half hours.

Letby showed no emotion in the dock.

A public inquiry into events in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital will begin hearing testimony in September.