Jurors in an attempted murder case in the UK have been warned to base their decision on evidence only as convicted child killer Lucy Letby goes on trial once again. The 34-year-old former nurse has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of an infant at the Countess of Chester Hospital in England in 2016.
Mr. Justice Goss spoke to the jury and noted they were likely aware that Letby had already been convicted for several killings, but they must keep an open mind and determine her guilt or innocence based only on the details of the case before them. “You will try this case, I repeat, on the evidence,” he said.
During the trial at Manchester Crown Court, jurors heard evidence that a doctor caught Letby “red-handed” after removing a breathing tube from a young girl. By that time, she had already murdered several children.
The infant, known as Child K, was born prematurely in 2016 and was moved to the Chester Hospital’s intensive care unit, where Letby was on duty with one colleague. When the colleague left to talk to the child’s mother, Letby allegedly removed the breathing tube, and was discovered when Dr. Ravi Jayaram walked into the room.
The Manchester jury heard that Dr. Jayaram witnessed the child’s blood oxygen levels falling, with no alarm sounding, and Letby standing watching the infant and taking no action.
Last August, former nurse Lucy Letby was convicted for the murder of seven infants at the same hospital between 2015 and 2016. She was also found guilty in six attempted murder cases, but the jury could not agree on a verdict on Child K, so a retrial is currently underway. The jury convicted the killer after deliberating for 76 hours at the close of a trial that lasted for almost eight months.
Letby was sentenced to life in prison for injecting newborns with air, poisoning others with insulin, and force-feeding babies to death.
