I saw Lucy Letby standing by my baby’s cot – then all hell let loose… I can still remember the look on her face
A MUM has told how she fears her baby may have been one of Lucy Letby’s first victims.
Letby, 33, was found guilty on Friday of murdering seven babies – making her Britain’s most prolific child killer.
Her heinous crimes were unmasked during a nearly 10-month trial where it was revealed she also attempted to kill six other newborns.
Victoria Whitfield believes the nurse also attempted to hurt her premature baby in November 2013.
Her tot, Felicity, had been in the neonatal unit in the Countess of Chester Hospital after being born by emergency caesarean.
Victoria and her husband Mike had been told she was “doing brilliantly” – but the next day they were informed their daughter was gravely unwell.
Victoria told The Times: “It was about 3am, I was up in my room. I don’t know what it was, call it mother’s instinct. I felt I needed to go down to the neonatal unit. I walked in — everything seemed quite calm.
“Lucy Letby was by [the cot] and then she walked out into the other room. I went to have a look at Felicity and within minutes all hell broke loose. It was like I wasn’t in the room — but there were nurses running around everywhere.”
The terrified parents were told by medical staff that they did not think Felicity would survive.
Mike said: “They told us that if we wanted to get her baptised, that was the time to do it. Because she probably wasn’t going to make it.”
Felicity was moved to Arrowe Park Hospital, less than 20 miles away, for alternative treatment – and immediately her condition improved.
Once the parents saw that Letby had been arrested, they began to comb over what happened during Felicity’s care.
The charges Letby was convicted on in full
Child A, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby injected air intravenously into the bloodstream of the baby boy. COUNT 1 GUILTY.
Child B, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby attempted to murder the baby girl, the twin sister of Child A, by injecting air into her bloodstream. COUNT 2 GUILTY.
Child C, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said Letby forced air down a feeding tube and into the stomach of the baby boy. COUNT 3 GUILTY.
Child D, allegation of murder. The Crown said air was injected intravenously into the baby girl. COUNT 4 GUILTY.
Child E, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby murdered the twin baby boy with an injection of air into the bloodstream and also deliberately caused bleeding to the infant. COUNT 5 GUILTY.
Child F, allegation of attempted murder. Letby was said by prosecutors to have poisoned the twin brother of Child E with insulin. COUNT 6 GUILTY.
Child G, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby targeted the baby girl by overfeeding her with milk and pushing air down her feeding tube. COUNT 7 GUILTY, COUNT 8 GUILTY, COUNT 9 NOT GUILTY.
Child H, two allegations of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby sabotaged the care of the baby girl in some way which led to two profound oxygen desaturations. COUNT 10 NOT GUILTY, COUNT 11 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child I, allegation of murder. The prosecution said Letby killed the baby girl at the fourth attempt and had given her air and overfed her with milk. COUNT 12 GUILTY.
Child J, allegation of attempted murder. No specific form of harm was identified by the prosecution but they said Letby did something to cause the collapse of the baby girl. COUNT 13 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child K, allegation of attempted murder. The prosecution said Letby compromised the baby girl as she deliberately dislodged a breathing tube. COUNT 14 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child L, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said the nurse poisoned the twin baby boy with insulin. COUNT 15 GUILTY.
Child M, allegation of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby injected air into the bloodstream of Child L’s twin brother. COUNT 16 GUILTY.
Child N, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby inflicted trauma in the baby boy’s throat and also injected him with air in the bloodstream. COUNT 17 GUILTY, COUNT 18 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT, COUNT 19 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child O, allegation of murder. Prosecutors say Letby attacked the triplet boy by injecting him with air, overfeeding him with milk and inflicting trauma to his liver with “severe force”. COUNT 20 GUILTY.
Child P, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said the nurse targeted the triplet brother of Child O by overfeeding him with milk, injecting air and dislodging his breathing tube. COUNT 21 GUILTY.
Child Q, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby injected the baby boy with liquid, and possibly air, down his feeding tube. COUNT 22 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Victoria said: “The only picture I constantly have in my head was that night, when I was walking to the room.
“She [Letby] was . . . on the opposite side of the ventilator and she kind of looked up — not really an expression on her face. And then walked around and walked out of the room. Just nothing.
“That was why I got on the phone to Mike when it came out in the press and said, ‘It was her.’”
So far officers have looked into only her killings between June 2015 and June 2016.
As Letby faces life behind bars, they are continuing their investigation — dating it back to 2012 when she started at the Countess.
But they are also investigating Liverpool Women’s Hospital where she worked on placements in 2012 and 2015.
In that time about 4,000 babies would have passed through the hospitals’ maternity wards.
Police are confident the 33-year-old has not killed any other children but believe she may have harmed or tried to harm one.
Officers are reviewing thousands of medical files and some parents have already either come forward with suspicions or been contacted by police.
Cheshire police have said that in the Whitfields’ case there was “nothing untoward established”.