Killer nurse Lucy Letby 'has keys to her own cell' while serving life for baby murder at plush private prison

27 January 2024, 23:27

Killer nurse Lucy Letby has the keys to her own cell in a plush private prison as she serves a whole-life sentence for murdering babies.

The baby murderer reportedly has an ideal situation at HMP Bronzefield, near Ashford, Surrey, after she was moved there from HMP Low Newton in County Durham in November.

Letby is said to have a key to her cell - a far cry from public conception of prisons in the UK.

A Letby victim's family member told the SUnday People: We thought they were throwing away the key, and now it turns out she has her own."

As well as the plush cell, Letby is also said to have become prison friends with a mother who murdered her baby and a woman who helped her boyfriend cut up his step-sister's body.

Letby was said to have bonded with baby poisoner Michelle Smith and Shauna Hoare, who was convicted for her part in the killing of 16-year-old Becky Watts.

The three of them were said to have played board games together and sat with each other when it came to eating meals.

They were “inseparable” and spent months enjoying sunbathing and karaoke together, an insider said.

"They were together 24 hours a day – they were a well-known threesome and were literally never apart," a source told the Mirror.

"They’d spend hours sitting on the wing landing playing board games, eating dinner together and tanning in the courtyard.

"I think they got on because they all believed they were innocent."

The three of them became friends at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, where Letby was sent on remand ahead of her trial.

Smith was sentenced to life in 2007 after being convicted of feeding adult-strength painkillers to her six-week-old daughter.

Meawhile, Hoare served eight years for her part in the killing of schoolgirl Becky in 2015.

Another source told the paper that Letby was "really chummy" with a nurse during her time at the prison.

They claimed she was allowed to use a laptop in her cell so she could "work on her case".

Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies at the Countess of Chester hospital's neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016 and attempting to murder six others.

The 33-year-old was ordered to serve the rest of her life in prison.

However, the jury in her trial at Manchester Crown Court was unable to reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five children.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it wanted to pursue a retrial on one of the outstanding charges - that Letby attempted to murder a baby girl, known as Child K, in February 2016.

Letby has formally filed a bid to challenge her conviction at the Court of Appeal.