LUCY Letby lied for years to cover up her crimes – never confessing to her devastating deeds that claimed the lives of seven innocent babies.
But the coward killer will today begin to serve her sentence – a lifetime behind bars for her “cruel and calculated” reign of terror at Countess of Chester Hospital.
The evil nurse refused to face court as she was sentenced today, never telling the grieving families of her victims just why she targeted their babies.
There were tears in court today as the brave families of Letby’s victims read powerful victim impact statements and slammed the twisted killer.
Experts believe that her possible motives included an “obsession” with a doctor at the hospital and enjoyment of a sick “thrill”.
Here are the different motives which the prosecution suggested during Letby’s 10-month trial.
‘Obsession’ with doctor
Lucy Letby possibly 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 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.
Prosecutor Mr Nick Johnson KC repeatedly asked Letby if she had sabotaged Baby O to get the doctor’s attention.
The doctor’s evidence related to Baby L, one of a set of twins who Letby is alleged to have injected with insulin.
‘Playing God’
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC suggested that Letby enjoyed “playing God” by killing babies then alerting her colleagues.
After Letby committed her final murder in June 2016, she said to colleagues: “He’s not making it out of here alive, is he?”
The newborn triplet died soon after.
Johnson described this and similar comments about two previous murders as “portents of doom”.
It comes as…
- Lucy Letby became the fourth woman to be sentenced to a lifetime behind bars
- Five possible motives for the killer nurse were revealed – including her obsession with a doctor
- Rishi Sunak blasted Letby for not appearing in court to face her sentencing
- The nurse’s diaries revealed her confessions: ‘I am evil’
He told jurors: “She knew what was going to happen. She was controlling things.
“She was enjoying what was going on. She was predicting things that she knew were going to happen.
“She, in effect, was playing God.”
Sick comments she was ‘bored’
Letby shamelessly told her trial that she found work less stimulating when looking after babies who did not need as much medical attention.
As a band 5 nurse she was qualified to treat very sick babies in Nursery One – the intensive care unit.
Evil Letby admitted craving opportunities to work in the neonatal ICU.
She texted colleagues while working in lower-risk Nurseries Two, Three and Four.
The killer nurse told them that she was bored and wanted to work with the most vulnerable babies in Nursery One.
Sick ‘thrill’
Parents and nurses said that Letby acted unusually when babies suddenly declined.
Child I’s parents told cops that they remembered the nurse “smiling and going on about how she was present at Child I’s first bath and how much she had loved it”.
Johnson suggested that Letby was “getting a thrill out of what you were watching, the grief and despair, in that room”.
Evil Letby looked up her victims’ families in Facebook binges on the anniversaries of their deaths and on Christmas Day.
She often searched for victims within minutes of each other – “hunting” for signs of grief.
‘Not good enough’
A chilling Post-it note found in Letby’s handbag after her arrest in July 2018 is the closest thing to a confession she produced.
It read: “I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them. I AM EVIL I DID THIS.”
Letby added: “I will never have children or marry. I will never know what it’s like to have a family.”
But the grotesque note was not presented in court as proof of Letby’s motive – which is still unknown.