Photo: Cheshire Constabulary
A British nurse was found guilty of murdering seven babies under her care. Prosecutors said that 33-year-old Lucy Letby attacked 13 babies in the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.
She was also convicted on seven counts of attempted murder.
Authorities said that Letby injected air into the babies' blood and stomachs, purposely overfed them, and poisoned them with insulin. She covered up the cause of the deaths, making it appear that they died of natural causes.
An investigation was launched after officials noticed a sharp uptick in the number of deaths while Letby was working. The hospital initially brushed off the claims, though she was moved from the neonatal ward.
As a result, Letby filed a grievance against the hospital. The Royal College of Nursing Union notified Letby about the allegations that she had been the cause of the deaths of the newborns, and the investigation was closed in her favor.
However, the hospital notified the police, who launched an investigation that led to 22 criminal charges being filed against Letby.
"Lucy Letby sought to deceive her colleagues and pass off the harm she caused as nothing more than a worsening of each baby's existing vulnerability," Pascale Jones of Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said. "In her hands, innocuous substances like air, milk, fluids – or medication like insulin – would become lethal. She perverted her learning and weaponized her craft to inflict harm, grief, and death."