How was Lucy Letby caught? Inside the police investigation into nurse found guilty of murdering seven babies
18 August 2023, 13:43 | Updated: 25 September 2023, 15:10
Lucy Letby has been found guilty of murdering seven babies and trying to kill six more, marking the latest stage in a long legal process to bring her to justice.
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Letby's killings and failed attempts took place while she was working at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and 2016.
She was accused of injecting her victims with air or poisoning them with insulin.
Letby, 33, denied all the charges against her, vehemently protesting her innocence and even breaking down in tears under questioning in court, but was found guilty of many of the charges on Friday.
But how was Letby eventually caught by police?
Read more: Evil nurse Lucy Letby found guilty of murdering seven babies
How did detectives first work out that Lucy Letby was the killer?
The Countess of Chester hospital began to see an unusually high number of baby deaths in 2015 - 10% higher than would normally be expected, it later turned out.
In 2016, the hospital stopped accepting children born before 32 weeks of pregnancy, in part because of the high baby mortality rate.
An independent review carried out by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health could not find any "single cause or factor... to explain the increase", although it did find some staffing levels "inadequate".
The hospital called in Cheshire Police to investigate in 2017, saying in a statement that this was to "seek assurances that enable us to rule out unnatural causes of death."
Medical director Ian Harvey said that approaching the police was "not something we have undertaken lightly.
"This is to ensure we have been completely thorough in understanding what has happened here and to get the answers we and the families so desperately want."
Read more: Moment Lucy Letby was arrested as killer nurse is found guilty of murdering seven babies
Where was Lucy Letby at the time?
Lucy Letby had begun work at the Countess of Chester hospital in 2011, after graduating from university in the city.
She had a clean record from the Nursing and Midwifery council and, outwardly, appeared happy at the hospital. She helped raise millions of pounds for a new neonatal unit at the hospital in 2013.
But by 2016, after the unexplained series of baby deaths at the hospital, Letby's colleagues appeared to become suspicious of her.
She was moved off the ward and away from roles involving children, carrying out clerical duties for the next two years.
Senior doctors at the hospital said that they moved her away from working with children because they feared the babies' deaths were "the result of the actions of Lucy Letby".
When was Lucy Letby first arrested?
Lucy Letby was arrested on July 3 2018, a year into the police's investigation, on suspicion of murdering eight babies and trying to kill six more.
Police searched her three-bedroom semi-detached house, just over a mile away from the hospital.
They also visited her parents' home in Hereford, where she grew up, just under 100 miles to the south of Chester.
Police also included Liverpool Women's Hospital, where Letby had done a training placement, in their investigation. Bosses at the second hospital said they were cooperating with the police.
Officers later determined that no patients had been harmed during Letby's time in Liverpool.
Letby was let out on bail on July 6, three days after the initial arrest.
When was Lucy Letby arrested again?
Lucy Letby was arrested again in June 2019 on suspicion of murdering eight babies and trying to kill nine more - an extra three attempted murders.
She was arrested a third time in November 2020, and this time was charged with the eight murders and ten attempted murders. She was denied bail.
One of the murder counts against Letby was dropped in June 2022, with the prosecution offering no evidence.
What did police find when they searched Lucy Letby's home?
When looking through Lucy Letby's home, officers found Post-It notes that said "I am evil" and "I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough".
Another said: “I haven’t done anything wrong and they have no evidence so why have I had to hide away?"
A third said: "Why/how has this happened – what process has led to this current situation?
"What allegations have been made and by who? Do they have written evidence to support their comments?"
The prosecution used these notes as evidence against Letby.
Letby said that the Post-Its were not an admission of guilt, but that she was referring to guilt that she had "somehow failed in my duties, in my competencies”.
She told the court: "I had been taken away from the job I loved and accused of things I just hadn’t done."
How long did the trial last?
Letby's trial, at Manchester Crown Court, lasted nine months, from October 2022 to July this year.
The jury were sent out to deliberate on July 10, before giving their verdicts on August 18.
