Parents’ shock over ‘cool, calm, calculated’ nurse

The parents of Baby L and Baby M, twin boys born prematurely but otherwise in good health at the Countess of Chester Hospital, remember 9 April, 2016, starting as a “very, very happy” day.

Family members were coming to visit for the first time and both mother and her babies were doing well.

Unbeknown to anyone at the time, nurse Lucy Letby was plotting to murder both children just one day into their young lives.

By this point, senior doctors were becoming increasingly concerned by a pattern of babies collapsing and dying on the hospital’s neonatal unit, particularly when Letby was around.

Letby has today been found guilty of the twin babies’ attempted murder as well as a slew of other attacks carried out between June 2015 and June 2016. During this time, the nurse murdered seven babies, making her the most prolific child serial-killer in modern British history.

Letby wasn’t supposed to be on shift on 9 April, but had volunteered to work an extra day after the twins were born on her unit.

Arriving at 7.30am, Letby attacked both boys under the noses of their parents and staff within a matter of hours.

First, she used an IV bag being used to feed Baby L to poison him with a huge dose of insulin, the powerful hormone that manages blood sugar levels in the body.

While other nurses were trying to treat his hypoglycemia, Letby turned her attenions on Baby M and injected excess air in his body via an IV drip.

They were among the babies Letby attacked during a 12-month killing spree at the Countess of Chester between June 2015 and June 2016.

Fortunately, both Baby L and Baby M survived. In fact, the parents weren’t even aware of Baby L’s hypoglycemic episode until the police investigation began several years later.

But recalling the moment of Baby M’s collapse, their father told of being in the recovery ward with his wife when a nurse came “charging in” to tell them to come to the twins as quickly as possible.

“I was there first because my wife was still in bed. I was the first one into the unit at the time and the image that I saw was just horrendous,” he said.

“That image I’ll never forget because it’s on the brain.”

Doctors were desperately giving CPR to their newborn baby and administering adrenaline in a bid to bring him back to life.

“I said, ‘Oh my God, what happened?’” the mother recalled.

“The doctor was giving compressions to [Baby M].

“One of the nurses said to me, ‘I have not done anything. I’ve not done anything.’

“Lucy was behind her.

“And I was just praying to God, [saying] what happened to my child? I have not done anything wrong in my life to anybody, so why do I have to suffer?”

Doctors were about to cease resuscitation efforts and declare Baby M dead when extraordinarily, he recovered.

At the time, they told the parents that such collapses can happen to premature babies.

But privately, Baby M’s remarkable recovery made consultants suspicious about why he had collapsed in the first place, especially as it had become a frequent occurrence on the ward.

It wasn’t until several years later, however, that the parents of Baby L and Baby M were visited by police and told that they believed Letby was responsible for attempting to murder them both.

They had never had any suspicions about Letby until that moment.

“She was very cool, calm, calculated and criminal mind lady,” the mother said.

“At the time we hadn’t noticed anything about her.”

Looking back, the parents now believe Letby became “aggressive” and “frustrated” with them after both Baby L and Baby M recovered.

“I think she was unsuccessful to kill my kids, that’s why she was very annoyed with us because she couldn’t kill our babies,” said the mother.

The twin boys are now seven-years-old and their parents say they are “very happy”.

Baby M suffered brain damage as a result of his near-fatal collapse at the hands of Letby, though the significance of the injury is not yet clear.

Describing her children, their mother said: “I love my kids too much. Even when they’re arguing or fighting. They are my life.

“When we heard what Lucy did to our kids, we broke down. Previously, we were very happy.

“We tried to say to them that Lucy has tried to harm you. But they don’t understand.

“They make a joke, we will kick her, we will bite her, we will pull her hair mummy. They don’t understand yet.”

Letby, who has denied her offending from the beginning, is facing a whole life order as a result of her convictions.

The parents say seeing her locked up for life will bring some “closure”.

“She’s tried to take our little babies’ lives, so whatever sentence she gets it’s not going to be enough,” the father said.

“It will be justice, but it won’t be enough. We hope it will be a whole life order, but we will have to wait and see.”

The mother added that she hopes Letby will never be released from prison adding: “She is a danger to everyone.”