INSIDE THE TRIAL OF THE BABY KILLER NURSE

The trial is over, the verdicts are in and yet the fundamental question remains unanswered: who is Lucy Letby and why did she commit such heinous crimes? It’s a question I’ve been wrestling with since I started covering the story in 2018, when Letby was first arrested.

From the first time I saw her at Warrington Magistrates’ Court, I struggled to tally the woman on the screen with the horror of the charges. I thought a clearer picture would come into focus at the trial. But as it neared and proceedings moved to Manchester, it became clear that there would not be enough seats in the courtroom for all the reporters who wanted to attend. An overspill annex was arranged in another building, but I was keen to be in the courtroom itself. I put my name down for one of the five media seats available. By the end of the trial, when Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others, I realised I’d had a seat at the ringside of history.

That’s not how it felt on the first day, though. I looked at Letby through the glass wall of the dock and I had the same impression as before. She seemed ordinary. The charges were read out. Seven charges of murder and 15 of attempted murder. A litany of horror being levelled at a woman you wouldn’t notice if you walked past her in the street.

The Crown opened its case. Baby by baby, week by week, the allegations were laid out.

At the start of the trial, we had been given a 25-page alphabetical glossary of medical terminology, running from abdominal distension (“swelling of the abdomen usually caused by abnormal volumes of air”) to volvulus (“abnormal twisting of the gastrointestinal tract”). I kept it close at hand, as the court was presented with blood gas records, clinical notes, observation charts and graphs. There was expert evidence on the micro-detail of air embolism and insulin poisoning. And circumstantial evidence examining how Letby was present every time a baby collapsed suddenly.