Lucy Letby timeline: how she became one of UK's worst serial killers

The 33-year-old is the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history and will now spend the rest of her life behind bars for what was described as a “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign” in which she killed seven babies and attempt to murder a further six. 

Letby was convicted last Friday by a jury for the horrific acts which took place while she was working in the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit between 2015 and 2016.

The judge handed her a life sentence at Manchester Crown Court on Monday (August 21), making her only the fourth woman in UK history to be told she will never be released from prison.

The other women to receive a life sentence are the girlfriend of Moors Murderer Ian Brady, Myra Hindley, who died in 2002, and serial killers Rose West and Joanna Dennehy.

This sentencing has been a long time coming for the families whose children were among those killed or attacked by Letby.

It has taken around five years to get to this point, seven if you count the two-year investigation carried out by the Cheshire Police before Letby's initial arrest in 2018. 

Here's a timeline on how Letby became the UK's most prolific serial killer and wound up with a life sentence.

Lucy Letby background story

How did they catch Lucy Letby?

2015/2016: In 2015 and 2016, there was a significant rise in the numbers of babies who suffered serious and unexpected collapses in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Letby was the only member of the nursing and clinical staff who was on duty each time the collapses happened.

It has since been found that she used various ways to harm the babies including injecting air into the bloodstream, injecting air into the stomach, overfeeding with milk, physical assaults and poisoning them with insulin.

Some of the children were subjected to repeated attempts to kill them by the “cold, cruel and relentless” band 5 staff nurse, the trial – which began at Manchester Crown Court last October – heard.

Letby’s presence when collapses took place was first mentioned to senior management by the unit’s head consultant in late June 2015.

Concerns among some consultants increased over time and were voiced to hospital bosses when more unexplained and unusual collapses followed.

But Letby was not removed from the unit until after the deaths of two triplet boys and the collapse of another baby boy on three successive days in June 2016.

Letby was confined to clerical work and in September 2016 registered a grievance procedure.

2017: The grievance procedure was resolved in Letby’s favour in December 2016 and she was due to return to the neonatal unit in March 2017. 

However, she never returned with the police contacted by the hospital trust before she got back.

Lucy Letby used to work at the Countess of Chester Hospital. (Image: PA)

2018: The nurse, from Hereford, was arrested at her semi-detached home in Westbourne Road, Chester, at 6am on July 3, 2018.

Evidence against Lucy Letby

During searches of her address, a number of closely written notes were discovered.

On one green Post-it note she wrote said: “I don’t deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them. 

“I am a horrible evil person” and in capital letters “I am evil I did this”.

These notes were later used by Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC who invited jurors to read the note “literally” as a confession.

Also found during searches, the court heard, were more than 250 shift handover sheets containing names of some of the children on the trial indictment.

Mr Johnson also revealed numerous Facebook searches for parents of children she attacked had been carried out by Letby.

The “rogue nurse” falsified medical notes to cover her tracks and also gaslighted doctors and nurses to persuade them the collapses were “just a run of bad luck”.

She was also prepared to publicly trash the reputations of colleagues “in an effort to get away with it”, the prosecutor added.

Letby denied all the allegations.

Notes were found in Lucy Letby's home relating to the murders. (Image: PA)

The guilty verdict

2023: The jury - made up of seven women and four men –  returned partial verdicts.

On August 8 the jury - on its 15th day of deliberations – unanimously found her guilty of attempting to murder two infants by poisoning them with insulin.

At the start of deliberations on the afternoon of August 11 the jury delivered verdicts on a further six counts.

Letby was found guilty of murdering four babies and attempting to murder two others.

On August 16 the jury convicted her on six more counts – three murders and three attempted murders – and cleared her of one count of attempted murder.

Before on Friday (August 18), after deliberating for 110 hours and 26 minutes – spread over 22 days – the jury said they could not reach verdicts on six remaining counts of attempted murder in relation to four infants.

So in total, they found Letby guilty of seven counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder in relation to six babies.

Sentencing

Following last Friday's conviction, Letby has today (August 21) been sentenced to life in prison for murdering seven babies and trying to kill six more.

The judge handed her a life sentence at Manchester Crown Court on Monday (August 21), making her only the fourth woman in UK history to receive this sentence.

Cheshire Police say they are continuing to review the care of some 4,000 babies who were admitted to the Countess of Chester – and also at Liverpool Women’s Hospital when Letby had two work placements – during her employment from 2012.