Lucy Letby’s ex-boss believes she may be innocent, citing lack of fit with her character as baby death reviews continue.
Letby, 35, got 15 whole life orders for murdering seven babies and trying to kill seven more at the Chester hospital. Letby lost appeals last year after she tried to challenge her convictions.
Medical experts claim their findings this month suggest errors. They stated they found “no evidence” of murder and blame hospital errors for the deaths. Rees met Letby in 2016 during the summer.
Rees had to remove Letby from the neonatal ward following concerns over her “clinical practice.” Weekly meetings followed with Letby where Rees described how “very distressed” Letby seemed. Letby cried during these meetings and said she would not leave her job.
Letby said she’d “done nothing wrong.” Rees claimed Letby deserves an Oscar if lying. The meetings occurred during Letby’s investigation as baby deaths rose when Lucy was on shift.
Rees stated that psychopaths are clever, adding that acting that well deserves true recognition. Letby felt hurt by the allegations, seeing the accusers as friends, not just colleagues. Concerns arose earlier about babies.
Doctors raised concerns about three infants’ deaths that occurred in June 2015. These infants were later known as babies A, C, and D. Baby B, A’s twin, collapsed but survived after resuscitation.
Rees thinks Letby is innocent in this situation and trusted the team around the nurse. Some people know Letby well and Rees says this behavior does not fit Letby’s character. A colleague described Letby as strict and said she followed rules.
Rees created a WhatsApp group to support Letby’s mental health. Group messages supported Letby back then, telling her to stay strong in that investigation.
Rees admits she got too close to Letby back then as the group took Letby out to tea every couple of months. Letby also had counseling and wrote down stressful thoughts those times. The prosecution used these during trial.
Notes said things like “I am evil” and some said, “I killed them.” Despite this, Rees said Letby seemed normal and described her as a “quiet, normal 28-year-old.” Stress, Rees claimed, made Letby “catatonic.”
Reviews of each death never happened then, and no Datix forms were completed. This concerns the nurse’s clinical practice. Doctors declined to work with Letby after that time, ending hopes to reinstate her. Consultants raised initial concerns back then.
Letby wanted to return to the unit in 2017. Rees read her plea at a meeting that included the executive team, as well as the consultant body.
Letby got a guilty verdict for child A’s murder, with the Crown saying she injected air into his blood. Letby got a guilty verdict for child B’s attempted murder; the Crown said air was injected into her blood again.
Letby received a guilty verdict for child C’s murder; the Crown said she forced air into his stomach. Letby was determined guilty for child D’s murder later; the Crown said air was injected intravenously then.
Letby was found guilty of child E’s later murder. The Crown stated that they injected air and caused bleeding then. Letby was guilty of child F’s attempted murder, with the prosecution saying she poisoned him with insulin.
Letby received one guilty verdict for child G’s attempted murder and got two verdicts of not guilty then. The Crown said she overfed her milk. The Crown stated that she pushed air into the tube then.
The jury could not reach verdicts for child H, which included attempted murder charges. Letby was found guilty for child I’s murder later. The prosecution said she gave her air and too much milk.
The jury could not reach a verdict with child J about the attempted murder charge. The jury could not reach a verdict with child K at first either. Letby was found guilty at retrial later.
Letby was found guilty of child L’s attempted murder. The Crown said she poisoned him using insulin back then. Letby got a guilty verdict for child M’s attempted murder, with prosecutors saying she injected him with air.
Letby received one guilty verdict concerning child N’s attempted murder. Juries could not reach multiple verdicts, which involved other charges for that event. The Crown mentioned trauma in his throat.
Letby got a guilty verdict in the case of child O’s murder case. Prosecutors mentioned an injection of air, overfeeding him, and liver trauma. Letby received a guilty verdict for child P’s murder.
Prosecutors said Letby targeted his triplet brother then too, mentioning overfeeding and injecting air. They said that she dislodged his breathing tube. The jury could not reach a verdict for child Q as well, concerning his attempted murder.
Rees believes Letby hoped for an impact involving her four-page statement of innocence. She tried again to move Letby back, but resistance from consultants prevented that. Letby attacked babies after parents and nurses left them alone.
She fatally injected seven babies with air often too. She tried to kill two with insulin lacing and also did attempted murder with a tube then that went down a baby’s throat back then too.
The home contained medical documents too, which belonged to her many victims at that time. Facebook searches on parents were also discovered then. Rees last saw Letby at a party then, with Letby giving her a garden lantern back then.
She could not attend Letby’s trial at that time anyway because she was on a list of potential witnesses back then anyway. Rees offered to give evidence for Letby but was never called back then after all too.
Her lawyers told her to speak against that nurse, which came after Letby’s conviction in August this last year then. Rees now regrets doing this action back then in the past. She seeks to visit HMP Bronzefield then in the future, but Letby has not said yes to meet her yet.
Medical experts found “no evidence” of murder. They now say hospital errors caused the deaths. A committee of neonatologists said they found “no murders” after going through the evidence during review.
Letby’s lawyers say there was a miscarriage of justice. They want an independent review now. The CCRC will decide if the court should reconsider, as only that court can overturn a conviction then after all.