LUCY Letby carried out her year-long killing spree to get attention from a married doctor she’s accused of having an affair with.
The nurse, 33, who was today found guilty of murdering seven babies, was said to have formed an obsession with the male doctor, scrawling notes in her bedroom saying: “I loved you.”
When cops arrested her for the first time in July 2018, they found the messages strewn around her home and even hidden inside her diary.
Letby, who lived alone with her cats at her semi-detached property in Chester, Cheshire, wrote: “Please help me, please help me (doctor’s name). I trusted you with everything. (Doctor’s name) I loved you.”
In another she said: “(Doctor’s name), my best friend.”
Next to the doctor’s name, she had scrawled: “I can’t do this anymore.”
Letby had been accused of “flirting” with the medic, who cannot be named for legal reasons, by a nursing colleague while working on the unit, her trial heard.
The only time Letby showed emotion was when the doctor spoke in the courtroom.
The medic was behind a screen to protect his identity, but the killer nurse was said to have broken down in tears and abruptly left her seat when she heard his voice.
She swapped multiple Facebook messages with him on the same day Baby O died, before murdering his triplet brother 24 hours later.
During her trial, prosecutor Mr Nick Johnson KC: “Did you want to get his attention?”
Letby: “No”.
The barrister pressed again: “Is that the reason you sabotaged Baby O?”
Letby replied: “No.”
On June 23, 2016, her first shift back after her holiday to Ibiza, she sent him: “Boo.”
He said he would be returning to the neonatal ward later that day and offered to bring her some lunch.
Giving evidence on the last of her 14 days in the witness box, the nurse hesitated when asked to read out a message exchange with him.
Mr Johnson had to prompt her twice before she finally referred to an emoji the male doctor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sent her.
Letby said: “It’s a heart.”
She had responded to the doctor’s love heart with one of her own, combined with a smiling face emoji.
The court heard how on one occasion Letby went to London with the married doctor and had been due to go a second time before the trip was cancelled.
She also met up with him several times after she’d been pulled from the unit pending an investigation.
In 2017 the pair enjoyed a day out at the Cheshire Oaks designer outlet and also went for coffee at Starbucks.
A note, found at the hospital’s patient safety office, bore further references to the doctor.
It referred to “Tigger and Smudge” and then his name.
It comes as…
- Police are probing whether ‘beige’ Letby was behind any other hospital attacks
- The parents of twins poisoned by the nurse say no sentence will ever be enough
- Footage shows the moment Letby was led away from her home by police
- She can also be seen lying to police while being grilled after her arrest
- Letby will find out if she faces a retrial in 28 days
Another said: “I loved you but it wasn’t enough.”
Giving evidence, Letby denied any romantic involvement but admitted: “Sometimes he would come to my house, sometimes we would go out for meals or walks.”
And she even broke down in tears for the first time the moment he gave evidence.
The nurse’s emotional outburst came 16 weeks into her trial at Manchester crown court.
It happened as soon as he began to speak from behind a screen.
Letby was seen wiping tears from her eyes with tissues from a box beside her.
She stood up in the dock and was led to the cells as she needed a few minutes to compose herself.
The doctor’s evidence related to Baby L, one of a set of twins who Letby is alleged to have injected with insulin.
The only other time Letby broke down in tears was in April when the jury were shown pictures of her bedroom.
In one message exchange, the pair joked about reporting in sick so they could go home.
Mr Johnson put it to Letby that a nurse pal accused her of being “sweet” on the doctor in a series of WhatsApp messages in June 2016.
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There was a long pause before Letby replied at Manchester crown court: “There was nothing between me and the doctor.”
The barrister pressed her, asking: “Did she think you were sweet on him?
Letby asked: “What do you mean?”
Mr Johnson replied: “Had a crush on him.”
She responded “no”.
In one exchange, her pal suggested alongside a laughing emoji that the doctor would like her to “go commando”.
Letby replied with four laughing emojis but told her murder trial she didn’t know what the phrase meant.
The charges Letby was convicted on in full
Child A, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby injected air intravenously into the bloodstream of the baby boy. COUNT 1 GUILTY.
Child B, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby attempted to murder the baby girl, the twin sister of Child A, by injecting air into her bloodstream. COUNT 2 GUILTY.
Child C, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said Letby forced air down a feeding tube and into the stomach of the baby boy. COUNT 3 GUILTY.
Child D, allegation of murder. The Crown said air was injected intravenously into the baby girl. COUNT 4 GUILTY.
Child E, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby murdered the twin baby boy with an injection of air into the bloodstream and also deliberately caused bleeding to the infant. COUNT 5 GUILTY.
Child F, allegation of attempted murder. Letby was said by prosecutors to have poisoned the twin brother of Child E with insulin. COUNT 6 GUILTY.
Child G, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby targeted the baby girl by overfeeding her with milk and pushing air down her feeding tube. COUNT 7 GUILTY, COUNT 8 GUILTY, COUNT 9 NOT GUILTY.
Child H, two allegations of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby sabotaged the care of the baby girl in some way which led to two profound oxygen desaturations. COUNT 10 NOT GUILTY, COUNT 11 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child I, allegation of murder. The prosecution said Letby killed the baby girl at the fourth attempt and had given her air and overfed her with milk. COUNT 12 GUILTY.
Child J, allegation of attempted murder. No specific form of harm was identified by the prosecution but they said Letby did something to cause the collapse of the baby girl. COUNT 13 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child K, allegation of attempted murder. The prosecution said Letby compromised the baby girl as she deliberately dislodged a breathing tube. COUNT 14 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child L, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said the nurse poisoned the twin baby boy with insulin. COUNT 15 GUILTY.
Child M, allegation of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby injected air into the bloodstream of Child L’s twin brother. COUNT 16 GUILTY.
Child N, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby inflicted trauma in the baby boy’s throat and also injected him with air in the bloodstream. COUNT 17 GUILTY, COUNT 18 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT, COUNT 19 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child O, allegation of murder. Prosecutors say Letby attacked the triplet boy by injecting him with air, overfeeding him with milk and inflicting trauma to his liver with “severe force”. COUNT 20 GUILTY.
Child P, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said the nurse targeted the triplet brother of Child O by overfeeding him with milk, injecting air and dislodging his breathing tube. COUNT 21 GUILTY.
Child Q, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby injected the baby boy with liquid, and possibly air, down his feeding tube. COUNT 22 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
After the trial, a criminology expert said Letby may have been driven by a “pathological desire for attention and sympathy”.
Dr Dominic Willmott, a senior lecturer in criminology at Loughborough University, said her messages showed she wanted to “garner sympathy”.
He said: “In our analysis of healthcare professionals who perpetrate violence against their patients, especially children, offending appeared to be motivated by a pathological desire for attention and sympathy emerging as a consequence of their involvement in the case.
“There was a complex interaction between this and a history of personality disorder diagnoses and characteristics, and were often found to be highly sadistic and narcissistic as described by those who knew them.”
Meanwhile, an independent inquiry has now been ordered by the government that will examine how concerns raised by doctors were dealt with and the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
