Why experts continue to question the ‘Killer nurse’ Lucy Letby case : NPR

Convicted of murdering infants in her care, neonatal nurse Lucy Letby is one in every of the UK’s most infamous serial killers. However there are contemporary questions on proof, and whether or not she bought a good trial.

LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:

We flip now to a real crime case that is captivated Britain, the place I reside. Lucy Letby was a neonatal nurse convicted of murdering infants in her care – one after the other, quietly, usually at night time, at the hospital the place she works. The tabloids referred to as her an angel of loss of life.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: Occasion woman, graduate, shiny younger nurse.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: Lucy Letby appeared like an unusual girl.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: For evil, hiding in plain sight.

FRAYER: Coverages targeted on her look, younger and blonde, how she doodled the phrases – I’m evil; I did this – in her journal. However whereas Letby serves a life sentence, some forensics experts at the moment are asking, did she truly do that? Or, not less than, did she get a good trial? And to probe that question, I am joined right here in our London studio by the BBC’s Stephanie Hegarty, who reported a podcast referred to as “Lucy Letby: The Killer Questions.” Welcome.

STEPHANIE HEGARTY: Hello. Thanks for having me.

FRAYER: Thanks a lot for coming. So let’s simply dive into the proof. On what foundation was Letby convicted?

HEGARTY: So this was one in every of the longest trials in English felony historical past. It went on for 10 months, and she or he was finally convicted on 15 separate prices for seven murders and eight tried murders. And there was an enormous quantity of proof. The police investigation went on for about six years – I feel – from 2017 up till the foremost trial final 12 months. So the spine of the case – the prosecution’s case was that Letby was the solely nurse who was all the time there when infants collapsed and a few of them then died, when it was unexplained or surprising.

FRAYER: So she was in the room. Had been her fingerprints on – was there a homicide weapon?

HEGARTY: So this can be a large downside with this trial. There was no forensic proof and no eyewitnesses. Nobody ever noticed Letby commit against the law. And as a substitute of forensic proof, what the prosecution actually relied on was medical proof. So the notes of the child’s situations, nursing notes, medical notes. There have been varied completely different strategies that she was convicted of wounding these infants by. One was injecting air into their veins. One was injecting air into their stomachs by way of their feeding tubes. One other was administering insulin once they did not want it. And once more, nobody ever noticed this stuff taking place.

FRAYER: A few of these notes – there have been additionally some journals. I discussed these doodles of, I did this – I imply, seemingly actually damning proof. However in a while, we discovered that is not fairly because it appeared.

HEGARTY: This was a Submit-it be aware, and the picture of it was shared actually broadly in the media. They…

FRAYER: Entrance web page of papers.

HEGARTY: Yeah. And there was a number of scrawl and scribble on this Submit-it be aware. However there was one half the place she mentioned, I am evil; I did this. And that on the face of it, it is very damning.

FRAYER: It is chilling.

HEGARTY: There was different issues, many different issues written on that Submit-it be aware. One in every of them was – why me? One in every of them was one thing like – I did not do something fallacious. That wasn’t reported as broadly in the media. This was written in response to a immediate from one in every of her counselors to, you understand, get all the pieces off her chest – I suppose a therapeutic form of course of.

FRAYER: After which that was used towards her at trial.

HEGARTY: The prosecution did refer to it repeatedly.

FRAYER: So what issues are being raised now and by whom? She’s already in jail – 15 prices…

HEGARTY: Fifteen entire life sentences.

FRAYER: Yeah. Costs…

HEGARTY: Yeah. She’s solely one in every of 4 British girls who has been sentenced to spend her entire life in jail. The spine of the case is basically based mostly on statistics, proving that one nurse is the solely one that’s all the time there when this stuff occurred. You understand, is it potential that one simply occurs to be on the ward extra usually? Is it potential that one nurse is working with sicker infants and due to this fact may be extra possible to be there when a child dies?

FRAYER: At trial, the names of the infants who died in Letby’s care got pseudonyms, in order that they have been Child A, Child B, and so forth. I feel it went up to Child P or Q. That is lots of infants, lots of grieving households for whom the protection of this, and us even having this dialog, is painful. Are you able to speak about the sensitivity that you just had to deliver to your reporting on one thing like this?

HEGARTY: These households have been by way of – you understand, the first of those circumstances was in 2015. Having a solution at the finish of it was so essential. And the proven fact that these questions now rock the – any form of sense of closure they have been ready to have, I feel has been devastating, as anybody can perceive.

FRAYER: These murders coincided with a spike in toddler mortality in Britain. Austerity measures have left hospitals short-staffed. Maternal outcomes at the moment are worse in Britain than in a lot of Europe. Inform me about the systemic issues which are the backdrop.

HEGARTY: So what we present in our reporting and thru various leaked paperwork from the Countess of Chester Hospital, the place all of this occurred, was that it was actually struggling. It was dealing with various actually critical challenges. Workers have been understaffed and underneath expert. There was additionally a difficulty with the transport service. So these hospitals function in a community the place actually sick infants will likely be transferred to a hospital that may cope with extra complicated points. And there have been critical points with that service, that it wasn’t accessible once they wanted it.

After which there was a micro organism outbreak in a ward. It is referred to as pseudomonas. And it isn’t that dangerous to wholesome individuals, however for – in an ICU, particularly a neonatal ICU, it may be actually harmful. We could not immediately hyperlink any of those points to the deaths or the collapses that occurred that have been the topic of this trial. However they definitely created an image of a unit that wasn’t working at its greatest.

FRAYER: The U.Ok. regulation differs from the U.S. when it comes to reporting on litigation that is ongoing. However a few of the reporting on Letby has been censored on this nation. There was a narrative in The New Yorker journal that wasn’t allowed to be revealed in the U.Ok. And so when it was revealed on-line, buddies right here have been sharing PDFs as a result of the web site was blocked in the U.Ok. Inform me about how these authorized restrictions have sophisticated your personal reporting.

HEGARTY: The rationale for that’s the U.Ok. has actually sturdy contempt of courtroom legal guidelines. The media is just allowed to report what occurs on a day-to-day foundation in that trial. And other people aren’t allowed to speculate about guilt or innocence or what the final result of the trial may be. It was actually laborious to get individuals to converse, even off the document, which was – or, you understand, a personal cellphone name, which is completely authorized. Folks have been actually reluctant as a result of they have been scared.

FRAYER: In America, there’s been collection and obsession with lacking woman circumstances, and the victims are incessantly younger, white girls. Lucy Letby is a younger, white girl. Has race and gender affected the means this case has both been prosecuted or the media protection of it?

HEGARTY: There’s a fascination, I feel, with girls murderers, so gender undoubtedly. There may be additionally a fascination with girls who can hurt youngsters. So I feel it is the nature of the crimes, actually. However over the course of the trial, little or no was uncovered about who this girl is past portray an image of somebody who’s simply very unusual. So usually in these circumstances the place girls hurt youngsters, there’s a historical past of psychiatric dysfunction. There was nothing like that in Lucy Letby’s historical past. Additionally, she was well-liked on the ward. She was thought to be a reliable nurse. The choose even mentioned that in his sentencing remarks. Like I mentioned, she was nothing but when not unusual. And I feel that did create a form of fascination with who she was and why these crimes occurred.

FRAYER: That is BBC correspondent Stephanie Hegarty. Her podcast known as “Lucy Letby: The Killer Questions.” Thanks a lot.

HEGARTY: Thanks.

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