By Democrat reporter
Nurse Lucy Letby, pictured above, has been found guilty of murdering seven newborn babies on a neonatal hospital unit, making her one of Britain’s most prolific child serial killers.
After a 10-month trial in which jurors at Manchester Crown Court heard from more than 240 witnesses, Letby was found guilty of seven counts of murder and attempted murder of six others.
The 33-year-old deliberately injected infants with air or poisoned them with insulin between June 2015 and 2016 while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the north west.
Other babies, who had often been born prematurely or had specific vulnerable needs, were harmed by being fed excessive amounts of milk while one was physically assaulted.
Letby was not in the dock when the jury returned their final verdicts today (Friday) after 22 days and more than 100 hours of deliberation. Her parents were also absent from the court but families of the victims were in the public gallery.
Verdicts on 16 of the 22 counts she faced were returned by the jury on earlier days but could not be reported until now.
The jury could not reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder. When the first two guilty verdicts were returned, to two counts of attempted murder, on 8 August, Letby fought back tears in the dock and then cried as she left the courtroom.