Killer nurse Lucy Letby handed new whole-life order for harming newborn

Killer nurse Lucy Letby has been handed another whole-life order after she attempted to murder a newborn girl. The 34-year-old was this week convicted by jurors of the attack on the tot following a retrial.

She had been working at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit when she attempted to kill the baby in February 2016. Letby is already serving 14 whole-life orders for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others.

But today (Friday, July 5), she was handed another whole-life order - which means she will never be freed from jail and will die behind bars. Letby is just one of a handful of women in British history to have been handed the severe punishment.

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The former NHS nurse was jailed last year for the chilling murders and attempted killings, which were committed between June 2015 and 2016. A retrial was ordered on a single allegation concerning a baby girl, known only as Child K.

Manchester Crown Court heard how Letby, from Hereford, targeted the 'very premature' baby after she was moved from a delivery room to the unit's intensive care room in the early hours of February 17.

About 90 minutes after her birth, Letby dislodged the breathing tube through which the tot was being ventilated with air and oxygen. Consultant paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram caught her 'virtually red-handed' as he entered nursery one at about 3.45am.

He intervened and managed to resuscitate Child K. Dr Jayaram told jurors he saw 'no evidence' that Letby had done anything to help the baby as she deteriorated.

When he walked into the room, he saw her standing next to the infant's incubator. The medic told the court he also heard no call for help from Letby or alarms sounding as Child K's blood oxygen levels dropped.

Letby gave evidence during her retrial, telling jurors she had no recollection of the event and did not accept it had taken place. She denied harming Child K and claimed she had not committed any of the offences she had been convicted of.

The murderer also denied prosecution's claims that she interfered with the infant's breathing tube on two more occasions during the same shift to create the impression it was accidentally displaced. Child K was transferred to a specialist hospital later on February 17 because of her extreme prematurity.

But she died there three days later. More than two years later on a late Friday night in April 2018, Letby searched Facebook for Child K's surname.

Prosecutors said this was part of a pattern of similar Facebook searches which showed Letby's 'fascination' with the babies she had murdered and attempted to kill, as well as their families.

Letby was initially charged with the murder of Child K but the charge was dropped in June 2022 when the prosecution offered no evidence. In May, Letby lost her Court of Appeal bid to challenge her convictions.

A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children involved in the case.