By Megan Leitch-Dymond
Lucy Letby, a former neonatal nurse from Hereford, England, became one of the most notorious child killers in modern UK history following her convictions for the murders of seven infants and the attempted murder of seven more. The offences occurred between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Her trial was among the longest in English legal history, lasting over ten months. She is now only one of four women in British history to receive a whole life order, ensuring she will die in prison.
Born in January 1990, Letby was the only child of John and Susan Letby. She described a strong desire to work in neonatal care, influenced by her own complicated birth. Friends and former colleagues consistently described her as dependable, friendly, and professional. Investigating officers found nothing outstanding about her personality; she was simply an average person.
Letby studied nursing at the University of Chester. During her training, one assessor flagged concerns about her cold demeanor and lack of empathy toward her patients and she failed her final placement. Letby appealed this failure and passed on a reassessment, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Child Nursing in 2011. She began working full-time at the Countess of Chester Hospital in January 2012.
In 2013, Letby and a colleague administered an incorrect dosage of morphine to a newborn, 10 times the correct amount. Letby was suspended from administering controlled drugs and placed on temporary suspension and retraining. She disagreed with the decision and lodged a complaint with the unit manager, who had lifted the suspension after one week. By 2014, she had completed a neonatal specialisation course and began working more frequently with critically ill infants and caring for some of the hospital’s most vulnerable infants.
Between June 2015 and June 2016, a series of sudden and unexplained infant deaths and collapses occurred in the neonatal unit. Dr. Stephen Brearey and fellow consultants observed that Letby was the only nurse present during each of these medical emergencies and continually raised concerns.
Letby’s victims were anonymised in court under reporting restrictions and referred to as simply Children A - Q. Many of the victims were premature, some weighing less than 3lbs. A consistent pattern emerged: air embolisms, insulin poisonings, and overfeeding. Multiple children were not under Letby’s assigned care during incidents, yet she was repeatedly found nearby.
On 8 June 2015, Child A, a premature twin boy, died from an air embolism 90 minutes into Letby’s shift. His twin, Child B, collapsed 28 hours later from a similar suspected injection of air but survived. Letby was found guilty of murdering Child A and attempting to murder Child B.
Their parents later stated: “We never got to hold our little boy while he was alive because you took him away. You have been successful in your quest to cause maximum pain and suffering. We hope you live a very long life and spend every single day suffering for what you have done”.
Child C died less than a week later. Born at 1lb 1oz, he had been stable before suddenly deteriorating. Letby was seen by his cot when alarms sounded, despite not being his assigned nurse. A post-mortem suggested Letby had introduced air into his stomach via his feeding tube.
His mother described it as “a horror story. Knowing now that his murderer was watching us throughout these traumatic hours is unbearable. I blamed myself for his death. I couldn’t protect him”.
Child D collapsed three times in the early hours of 22 June before dying in her parents’ arms. Letby was found guilty of her murder. Her mother said, “My heart broke into a million pieces. There is no forgiving, not now, not ever”.
Child E and F were twin boys born in August 2015. Child E was murdered via an air embolism, and his mother found him bleeding from the mouth during the attack. Child F was poisoned with insulin the next day but survived.
The mother told the court: “Child F didn’t have large amounts of insulin put into his tiny body accidentally - it was done intentionally and maliciously to cause serious harm. Lucy Letby preyed on vulnerable babies who couldn’t stop her”.
Child G survived multipled attempts on her life. Letby was convicted of two of three charges. Child G suffered severe, permanent disabilities. Her father told the court she was now blind, fed via a tube, and suffered scoliosis: “She will never have a first kiss, a boyfriend, or get married. She will always be in her chair”.
Child I endured four separate attacks over several weeks before her death in October 2015. She died in her mother’s arms shortly after Letby resisted assistance during a critical moment. Letby later sent the parents a sympathy card.
Her mother said: “We lost her to someone who was supposed to protect her. Our daughter was tortured until she had no fight left in her”.
Child K was a premature baby girl born in February 2016. Letby was seen by consultant Dr. Ravi Jayaram standing idle as the baby’s oxygen levels dropped dangerously. Although she later died at another hospital, the jury could not reach a verdict in her case.
Children L and M were twins attacked in April 2016. Child L was poisoned with insulin, while Child M survived an air embolism but suffered brain damage. Letby was convicted of both attempted murders.
Child N collapsed three times in June 2016. His mother described him bleeding from the mouth and requiring CPR. Letby had allegedly used his haemophilia diagnosis to mask inflicted harm.
Children O, P and Q were premature triplets. Child O died after a suspected air embolism and liver trauma. Just hours later, Child P collapsed after Letby was seen feeding him alone. Both died within a day of each other. Baby Q survived. Letby remarked to a doctor shortly before Child P’s death: “He’s not leaving here alive, is he?”.
Their mother said: “Letby dressed Baby P after his passing and took his footprints for a memory box. I even thanked her. It was like being stabbed in the heart”.
Despite early concerns, hospital executives resisted consultant warnings. Hospital leadership was slow to act, and internal reviews repeatedly noted Letby’s presence at all major incidents, but senior management initially dismissed these as coincidental. In June 2016, after two triplet deaths and rising pressure from doctors, Letby was finally removed from clinical duties following demands from Dr. Brearey. Her final shift was on 30 June 2016 before she was transferred to an administrative role, but no external investigation was launched.
A 2017 grievance submitted by Letby was upheld by the hospital which ruled her removal had been driven by consultants without evidence. Letby received apologies from the hospital leadership and whistleblowers were threatened with disciplinary action. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health reviewed the unit but made no firm conclusions, citing systematic staffing problems and inadequate leadership, but made no mention of the deaths or conclusions about Letby. A later five-page review by a specialist neonatologist suggested four cases warranted forensic review.
In April 2017, four consultants directly approached Chesire Police. Formal investigation began in May. Detectives analysed hospital rotas, blood tests, handwritten notes, and electronic records. Letby was arrested in July 2018. At her home, police discovered handwritten notes reading: “I am evil. I did this,” and "I killed them on purpose”. Letby later said these were expressions of emotional distress.
In total, she was arrested three times. In July 2018, she was arrested and initially charged with eight counts of murder and six of attempted murder. After further investigation, more charges followed in 2019 and 2020. She was charged in November 2020 with the murders of seven babies and the attempted murder of ten others. She pleaded not guilty.
The trial began on 10 October 2022 at Manchester Crown Court. Letby was tried under strict reporting restrictions. The prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence, expert testimony, her presence at all incidents, and incriminating notes.
The defence argued there was no direct proof of harm and pointed to hospital hygiene issues, systematic failings, and flawed evidence. They called only two witnesses: Letby and a plumber who testified about recurring sewage issues in the unit. The jury deliberated for 22 days. On 18 August 2023, Letby was found guilty on 14 counts and received a whole life order.
Letby has attempted multiple appeals, arguing the medical evidence was weak, expert witnesses were biased, and jurors may have been prejudiced. In May 2024, the Court of Appeal denied her request, stating the trial was “fair and comprehensive”.
In June 2024, a retrial for one unresolved count resulted in another conviction. Letby again attempted to appeal, citing media prejudice; this was also rejected.
As of July 2025, Letby’s defence has submitted an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, citing doubts from a 14-member international expert panel that found no evidence of intentional harm. A 2025 report by the 14 experts concluded that all of the collapses and deaths could be explained by natural causes and substandard care. They argued that much of the prosecution’s evidence, particularly around insulin poisoning and air embolisms, lacked scientific consensus.
The Crown Prosecution Service is reviewing potential new charges based on new evidence. Police are re-examining cases between 2012 and 2015, including during her time at Liverpool Women’s Hospital. Three hospital executives were arrested in July 2025 on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in relation to the handling of the deaths. The UK Government launched a statutory inquiry into the hospital’s handling of the case and whistleblowing failures. New legislation is also being proposed to compel convicted offenders to attend sentencing hearings after Letby refused to appear in court, an act which former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described as ‘cowardly’.
Letby’s conviction has prompted deep national reflection on patient safety, accountability in the NHS, and legal thresholds for conviction without a clear motive. Despite the court’s judgment, Letby maintains her innocence. For the victim’s families, the case remains a source of enduring trauma. Further legal reviews may follow, but for now she remains incarcerated under a rare and final sentence - life without the possibility of release.
Editor's note: this article ran in Serial Killer Magazine and is reproduced as written. It is more careful than most accounts of this case, and the archive publishes it because of that rather than in spite of it. The convictions are as stated: Lucy Letby was found guilty in August 2023 of the murder of seven infants and the attempted murder of six more, with a further attempted murder conviction at a retrial in June 2024, and received a whole life order. This archive records her at seven. The case is not closed as a matter of controversy. Her application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the fourteen member international expert panel that concluded the collapses could be explained by natural causes and substandard care, the arrests of three former hospital executives, and the statutory inquiry are all live, and the article sets them out. Where it describes what was done to each child, it is reporting the prosecution case that the jury accepted. Readers should keep the two things apart: the convictions stand, and the evidence underlying them is under review by the body that exists to do exactly that.