Lucy Letby kept novels about cases and memoirs of doctors who suffered miscarriages in her childhood bedroom, it has emerged – as questions continue to be raised about the motives of the murderous NHS nurse for the murder of seven babies.
Letby, 33, was found guilty of murdering seven youths and six other counts of attempted murder following a month-long trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Footage of his bedroom, shown to the jury during the trial, offers what little there is to the mind of Britain’s most prolific child killer of the modern era.
On the bedside table nearest the window is a copy of Never Greener by Ruth Jones, which bears the slogan on its cover: “Sometimes we wonder what might have been…sometimes we find out.”
Letby’s trial heard allegations that the doctor had engaged in an affair with a married doctor.
Lucy Letby’s nursery in her Chester home. There are fairy lights around the bedposts, floral curtains, stuffed toys on the bed, and wall hangings that say “A dream is a wish your heart makes” and “Happy prosecco season.”
Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, 33, who was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill others on six occasions while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital
Ruth Jones’ Never Greener – a novel about a woman’s affair with a married man – and Dr Rana Awdish’s In Shock, which attacks “doctors’ failure to recognize suffering”, both sitting on Lucy Letby’s bedside table
The pediatric registrar was mentioned several times during the trial as her “boyfriend” by prosecutor Nick Johnson KC.
It was suggested during the trial that Letby was so in love with the doctor that she attacked and murdered babies knowing he would be called in to help.
The blurb for Never Greener, written by co-creator Gavin and Stacey Jones, describes how lead characters Kate, a successful actress, and Callum rekindle an old affair.
It reads: “They are faced with a choice: walk away from each other or risk finding out what could have been.
“Second chances are a rare gift in life. But that doesn’t mean they always have to be taken…’
The other book on Letby’s bedside table is a memoir about a doctor’s recovery from a near-fatal miscarriage that serves as an attack on “doctors’ failure to see and recognize the pain of loss and of human suffering”.
In Shock, by critical care doctor Dr Rana Awdish, is billed as a “gripping account of her extraordinary journey from doctor to patient, during which she sees for the first time the dysfunction of her profession’s disconnection from patients”.
The blurb published by the publisher adds: “(It is) a call to arms for doctors to see each patient not as a diagnosis but as a human being.”
Photographs released of Letby’s bedroom after her sentencing on Friday paint a portrait of a simple, calm woman who looked like any other – with an array of pink jumpers, bags and dressing gowns livening up a room of ordinary appearance.
Her bed, adorned with floral linens, is covered in stuffed animals, including Winnie the Pooh, while her wall hangings bore cliched inspirational quotes.
A wall hanging, in garish pink and shimmering silver, read ‘Happy Prosecco Season’; a canvas showing a sunny winter day bore the quote ‘A dream is a wish your heart makes’, a lyric from the Disney Princess classic Cinderella.
Photographs of Lucy Letby’s bedroom were released after her conviction. A canvas on the wall bears the slogan: ‘Leave sparks everywhere you go’
Photos show soft toys strewn across the bed, which is decorated with a floral and butterfly patterned duvet cover
An image from the corner of Lucy Letby’s bedroom shows pink suitcases, a Sports Direct bag filled with clothes, as well as two handbags. A pink hoodie is seen in the reflection of a standing mirror
Another canvas reads: “Leave sparks everywhere you go”.
The bed is unmade in the photographs released by the prosecution. Letby’s father, John, allegedly made the bed after his arrest.
Photographs shown to the jury of the freshly made bed showed an arrangement of stuffed animals on the bed: Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, a rabbit and a brown teddy bear. The duvet cover bore the pattern: ‘Sweet Dreams’.
Other photographs show a litany of purses and handbags; an unzipped suitcase next to a Sports Direct bag full of clothes; two dressing gowns hung on the back of the bedroom door, one pink and adorned with white polka dots.
However, the room and others in Letby’s house hid evidence of his terrifying spree of violence on helpless babies.
Officers found memorabilia, handwritten resuscitation notes and even a post-it note reading “I did this” after meticulously searching his home, garage and even a bedroom at his parents’ Hereford home.
Friends had dubbed Letby ‘the innocent’ – a quiet, simple woman, often seen pulling faces in photos, who vacationed with her parents every year until her arrest in July 2018.
Even now, after her conviction, police say they are no closer to establishing a motive why Lucy Letby inflicted so much violence on young babies.
Lucy Letby’s photo
Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes, who led the inquiry into neonatal deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital, believes Lucy Letby created attention spans
The Countess of Chester Hospital, where Lucy Letby worked in her neonatal unit
The investigating officer concluded that Letby created tantrums in the neonatal unit to get attention.
Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes of Cheshire Police said: ‘She clearly likes the attention, I think she liked the attention of a trial as well.
“But if we look for why she did that, then to reuse her own words, ‘she’s evil and she did that.
“You could tell how smart she was.
“Being able to mislead doctors into thinking a child was going to collapse, intentionally mislead smart doctors and colleagues.
‘Did she want her (the note) to be found? Did she just want to write it or did she just want to tell the world that she was evil, and she did?
‘Did she want the notoriety she has? Without telling us why, then the pattern was right in front of us for us to find.
The nurse, who was not present in court to hear the final verdicts after telling her lawyers she did not want to go, is awaiting sentencing.
She has already hinted to her legal team that she will not appear in court on Monday – meaning she will not hear statements from the families of her victims, or the judge’s remarks about her crimes.
