Killer Letby found guilty of attempted murder of baby

Lucy Letby was forced to listen to a judge’s sentencing remarks she previously refused to hear, as she was found guilty of the attempted murder of a baby at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit.

- ALEX ROSS

The nurse, 34, was “caught virtually red-handed” deliberately dislodging the baby girl’s breathing tube by a consultant paediatrician in a nursery room in February 2016, a jury at Manchester Crown Court heard. On the same day, the baby was transferred to a specialist hospital, where she died three days later – but not as a result of Letby’s actions, said the Crown Prosecution Service.

Yesterday, a jury found Letby guilty of attempted murder following a retrial in which the nurse was compelled to hear part of the sentencing remarks she refused to listen to last year. Almost a year ago, Letby, of Hereford, was convicted by another jury of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. But she refused to attend her sentencing hearing and listen to the judge’s comments. Prime minister Rishi Sunak branded Letby “cowardly” as he said the government was looking at changing the law to force criminals to attend sentencing hearings.