Lucy Letby, currently serving a life sentence for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of six others, was found guilty on Tuesday of attempting to kill another infant while in her care.
The jury concluded that Letby, 34, had attempted to kill a baby girl, known as Child K, in February 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwestern England. This verdict came after a previous jury failed to reach a consensus on this particular count.
Letby, who maintained her innocence and denied harming any children, was convicted last August of most of the charges related to crimes committed between June 2015 and June 2016 within the hospital’s neonatal unit.
On Tuesday, a different jury found her guilty of attempting to murder a “very premature” baby girl by intentionally dislodging her breathing tube in the early hours of February 17, 2016.
The baby’s parents expressed their shock and grief as the verdict was read after three and a half hours of deliberation.
Letby showed no outward signs of emotion.
Senior Prosecutor Nicola Wyn Williams stated that Letby removed the baby’s breathing support and was observed by a doctor standing idly by as the child struggled. She further asserted that Letby removed the breathing tube twice more over the following hours, “in an attempt to cover her tracks and suggest that the first dislodgment was accidental.”
“These were the actions of a cold-blooded, calculated killer,” she declared. “Staff at the unit had to consider the unthinkable — that one of their own was deliberately harming and killing babies in their care.”
Dr. Ravi Jayaram, a pediatrician at the hospital, informed the jury that he observed “no evidence” of Letby offering any assistance to the baby when he entered the room and saw her standing beside the newborn’s incubator.
Letby asserted to the jury, composed of six women and six men, that she had no memory of such an event. She denied harming Child K and reiterated her denial of all the offenses for which she had been convicted.
Letby is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole — the most severe punishment permitted under British law, which does not allow for the . Only three other women have received such a harsh sentence in the U.K.