Lucy Letby: What happened to each baby murdered by nurse

Nurse Lucy Letby has been told she will spend the rest of her life behind bars after being found guilty of killing seven babies and trying to kill another six.

The 33-year-old's long-running trial heard that she went on a year-long killing spree while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire.

Letby, who denied all charges against her, was accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 more and was found guilty by jurors of seven counts of murder and seven charges of the attempted murder of six babies.

Read more: Why are killers allowed to snub their own sentencing hearings?

A court order prevents the identities of the children attacked and allegedly attacked by Letby being reported, or their families, meaning they were referred to throughout the case by a letter of the alphabet.

Here is an outline of what happened to each child murdered or attacked by Letby.

Child A

The one-day-old baby boy was murdered on 8 June 2015 by Letby after being delivered by caesarean section at 31 weeks – a minute after his twin sister.

He was admitted to the neonatal unit but improved and was breathing without extra oxygen the next morning.

That evening, after Letby took over from another nurse, she called a doctor and consultant who both noticed an "odd discolouration" on the boy’s skin that the court heard became a “hallmark” of some of the cases where Letby had injected air into a child’s bloodstream.

Child A died at 8.58pm despite resuscitation attempts – within 90 minutes of Letby coming on duty.

Less than two hours after Letby finished the shift during which Child A died she searched on Facebook for his mother. She went on to carry out more online searches for Child A and B’s mother.

Read more: Lucy Letby: The handwritten notes that helped convict mass baby killer

Child B

Child B was the twin sister of child A, and despite initially needing to be resuscitated when she was born, recovered and stabilised.

Letby was accused of trying to kill her at about midnight on 9 June 2015, when her blood/oxygen levels dropped and she was blue, not breathing and limp.

The baby was resuscitated and the court heard she made a "remarkable recovery".

An expert who reviewed the case found that Child B was subjected to "some form of sabotage" and may have been injected with a dose of air.

Child C

Child C was born prematurely, weighing just 800g, at 30 weeks on 10 June 2015, but despite going into intensive care was in good condition.

On 14 June, Letby was the only person in the room when Child C suddenly collapsed. He was pronounced dead at 5.50am on 14 June.

An independent pathologist found that Child C suffered a cardiac arrest after his breathing became compromised. The prosecution said Letby had injected air into his stomach through a nose tube.

On the afternoon of 14 June 2015 – hours after child C died – Letby searched on Facebook for his parents.

Child D

Child D, a baby girl, was born by caesarean section more than 60 hours after her mother’s waters broke and shortly after, on the afternoon of June 20 2015, became "floppy" in her father’s arms.

She responded well to treatment in the neonatal but then deteriorated and collapsed three times in the early hours of 22 June 2015. On the final occasion medics couldn’t resuscitate her.

It was alleged that the girl was murdered by Letby injecting air into her bloodstream.

Letby later told police she could not explain why she had searched on Facebook for Child D's parents in the aftermath of her death.

Child E

Prosecutors said Child E's mother actually interrupted Letby while she was attacking him, but didn’t realise it.

The mother found her son “distressed” and bleeding from the mouth. He deteriorated and died on 4 August after losing a quarter of his blood volume.

The court heard Letby made "fraudulent" nursing notes to “cover her tracks”, and showed "very unusual interest" in Child E's family, searching social media for them.

Child F

Child F, the twin brother of Child E, was said by prosecutors to have been poisoned with insulin.

Child G

Baby girl Child G was born "exceptionally premature", weighing just 1lb 2oz, and was transferred to the Countess of Chester's neonatal unit in mid-August 2015.

She was "doing well" in the following weeks but after staff marked the milestone of her 100th day of life on 7 September, Letby is said to have forced air and milk into the baby via a syringe, prompting the child to vomit and then collapse. She recovered, but the court heard Letby tried to murder her on two more occasions on 21 September in a similar way.

Child G was left "severely disabled" as a result of the actions, the court heard.

Child I

Baby girl Child I died on 23 October 2015 on what the court heard was Letby’s fourth attempt to kill her.

Jurors were told the first attempt took place on 30 September with Letby trying to force-feed her milk and air, then she tried again on 13 and 23 October, succeeding on the third attempt.

A paediatrician concluded her deteriorations were consistent with the deliberate administration of a large amount of air into her stomach.

Children L and M

Children L and M were two twin boys the court heard Letby attempted to murder on 9 April 2016.

The court heard that Letby gave an unauthorised dose of insulin to Child L then tried to administer air to his brother Child M.

Both children went on to make a full recovery.

Child N

Baby boy Child N was born at 34 weeks on 2 June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital, weighing 3.6lbs. His condition was described as "excellent" although he did have a mild form of the blood disorder haemophilia.

Letby was accused of trying to murder the boy three times – on 3 June 2016, then twice on 15 June.

The court heard that at one day old, the baby’s blood oxygen levels suddenly dropped to life-threatening levels and he was crying and screaming.

Twelve days later, he was nearly ready to go home when Letby arrived for a day shift and went to his room to say ‘hello’.

When a second nurse had her back turned, Letby told her the baby had lost oxygen and immediately assisted with his breathing.

Read more: Families of Lucy Letby victims tell absent killer nurse: ‘You are nothing’

At around 3pm that day, Child N collapsed again and an attempt to insert a breathing tube found blood in his throat.

The court heard that one doctor “couldn’t understand” why two consultants, two registrars and two anaesthetists had failed to intubate Child N throughout the day, while one consultant told jurors he “could not think of a natural cause” for the baby’s multiple deteriorations on 15 June.

Independent experts suggested the blood in the baby’s mouth had been caused by the tube being ‘thrust’ into the back of his throat.

Letby was found guilty of one count of attempted murder while the jury could not reach a verdict on two other counts of attempted murder.

Child O

Newborn triplet Child O, the brother of Child P, died on 23 June 2016 after a number of collapses.

The court heard that Letby murdered the baby on her first shift back at the Countess of Chester Hospital following a holiday in Ibiza with friends. Before then, Child O had been stable.

Jurors heard that the baby died because of “inflicted traumatic injury” to the liver – comparable to liver injuries suffered by children involved in road traffic accidents and non-accidental assaults – as well as receiving fatal injections of air into the stomach and bloodstream.

Read more: 'Only a full and thorough inquiry will uncover the truth about Lucy Letby' - MP

Child P

Child P - the brother of Child O - died at the hospital the day after his brother.

The court heard the triplet suffered an “acute deterioration” after a doctor examined him on a ward round.

Preparations were made to move him to another hospital, but before the transfer the baby collapsed again and was pronounced dead at 4pm on 24 June 2016.

A coroner recorded the death as "prematurity" but independent experts who reviewed Child P’s case said the most likely cause was air injected into his stomach which compromised his breathing.