Lucy Letby’s convictions are ‘significant evidence’ in current trial, prosecutor says
Lucy Letby’s murder of seven babies in the hospital where she worked is an “importance piece of the evidence” to consider when assessing a further charge of attempted murder, a jury has been told.
The former nurse is on trial accused of attempting to kill a newborn girl, known as Baby K, in February 2016.
At the opening of the trial on Wednesday, jurors were told that Letby, 34, was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others at the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England.
She is charged with a further count of attempted murder upon which the jury in her original trial could not reach a verdict, the court has been told. Letby has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC told jurors that her convictions were “significant evidence of what her intention was at the time” she allegedly harmed a 14th infant, Baby K.
He said: “Lucy Letby, as you know, is charged with a single offence of attempted murder.
“But as all of you – or I’m sure most of you – know already, there was a very long trial when Lucy Letby was convicted of seven murders and seven counts of attempted murder: [there were] six others she attempted to murder, one of them twice.
“That makes 13 of them. Here we are dealing with [Baby K] who makes the 14th.”
Letby sat beside three security officers in the glass-encased dock as the prosecutor outlined the crown’s case before a packed courtroom.
Johnson added: “All that happened when she was working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester hospital in Cheshire.
“Those other cases that I’ve mentioned do have an importance in this case, because we suggest it’s not because you should convict her of this case because of what she’s done in other cases, but what we’re asserting is the relevance is – it gives you significant evidence of what her intention was at the time we say, we allege, she did things or something to [Baby K].
“Putting it in a nutshell, we are saying – we assert – that her status as a multiple murderer and attempted murderer is an important piece of the evidence that you can, if you wish, take
into account when you are considering whether we have made you sure that she attempted to murder [Baby K].” The trial continues.