WATCHING their newborn son being rushed to a special unit to help him breathe, his horrified mum and dad could only hope and pray he’d pull through as doctors worked desperately to save him.
But what happened next, as they feared the worst while anxiously waiting for news, is enough to make any parent’s blood run cold.
Talking for the first time in an exclusive Channel 4 documentary, a couple share their chilling encounter with killer nurse Lucy LetbyBlast Films
Letby is serving 15 whole-life orders for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven others Cheshire Constabulary/PA Wire
BLAST FILMSLetby handed the parents a ‘memory box’ before they knew whether their son had survived after he was rushed to a special care unit to help him breathe[/caption]
For shortly after the vulnerable tot was whisked away, his mum and dad were greeted by a nurse holding a ‘memory box’ in her hands.
Containing a tiny hat, baby wristband and blanket, they were mementos usually associated with the loss of a child.
Horrified that something terrible had happened to their baby boy, the mum began to cry – only to be assured by the “laughing” nurse that their baby was in fact still alive.
“She came straight up to us. I didn’t really see her. I just saw the box, and I burst into tears,” the mum recalls.
“I remember saying something like, ‘Oh my God, is he dead?’ and she just laughed. She was laughing when she thought that we thought the worst had happened.
“And she said, ‘No, we just give these boxes out to all the parents of babies who have been really poorly’.”
Speaking anonymously, the couple considered themselves lucky when their little boy recovered, after being resuscitated three times, but the bizarre encounter with the nurse stuck in their heads.
It was only when they were reading the news that they recognised the nurse in question – it was Lucy Letby.
Letby, 35, is serving 15 whole-life orders for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven others in a year-long reign of terror at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Now, talking for the first time in a Channel 4 documentary, Murder or Mistake, the couple have been left grappling with the notion that Letby may have harmed their son, who suffers from delayed development.
A court heard how Letby targeted a child after their transfer from the delivery room to the neo-natal unitMEN MEDIA
Their case was one of 17 being probed by cops investigating Letby, but no charges relating to their son were ever laid.
Their son was born full-term at the Countess of Chester in 2015, but mysteriously suffered three collapses before being transferred to Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where he recovered.
The mum said: “I think if something like the box had been given later on, or after we’d seen him, or after they’d (doctors) explained something, it might have been different.
I remember saying something like, ‘Oh my God, is he dead?’ and she just laughed. She was laughing when she thought that we thought the worst had happened
Anonymous mum of baby born on Letby’s ward
“But at that point in time, to come in and laugh… It’s not normal is it?
“It was only when we saw her face in the newspaper later on that we both recognised her straight away.”
Meanwhile the child’s dad is convinced Letby had “done something” to their child, who now has seizures.
His mum added: “Obviously there’s no concrete evidence. We don’t have a magic ball that we can go back and look at, but it’s just too much.”
‘Haunted’
The child’s dad is convinced Letby (pictured at a friend’s wedding while on bail) had ‘done something’ to their child, who now has seizures
A grab from footage of the serial baby killer’s arrest at her home Cheshire Constabulary/PA Wire
Letby worked for the NHS Countess of Chester HospitalGETTY
Timeline of horror – how Letby targeted babies
LUCY Letby carried out her horrific crimes in a year-long period at Countess of Chester Hospital.
She used insulin and air to inject newborns while working on the neo-natal ward.
The collapses and deaths of the children were not “naturally-occurring tragedies” and instead the gruesome work of “poisoner” Letby.
Her rampage was finally uncovered after staff grew suspicious of the “significant rise” in the number of babies dying or suffering “catastrophic” collapses.
Letby was found to be the “common denominator” among the horrifying incidents.
Officers then searched her three-bedroom home in Chester and discovered a chilling cache of evidence.
The nurse had scribbled haunting notes in diaries and on Post-It notes, including one that read: “I am evil I did this.”
The note added: “I don’t deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them.
“I am a horrible person.”
A probe into whether Letby harmed any other babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital is ongoing.
A corporate manslaughter investigation is also ongoing, as is now a gross negligence manslaughter one.
The couple have told their son about Letby, adding that when he saw her on TV, he asked: “Is that the naughty nurse that tried to kill me?”
When the mum told the police about the memory box, she said they acknowledged it was something that had been “brought up quite a lot” in cases of the children that they’d been investigating.
“It was definitely a repeated pattern,” she said. “The police told us we were one of 17 others being investigated at the time, and that the main trigger for investigation was children who had been resuscitated and where doctors didn’t really understand what was wrong.
“The police told us there wasn’t enough evidence to take it to court at the time, but they would leave it there in case anything else came up in the future.”
I think if something like the box had been given later on, or after we’d seen him, or after they’d (doctors) explained something, it might have been different. But at that point in time, to come in and laugh… It’s not normal is it?
The mum
The couple told producers they cried when Letby was jailed last year – but are now haunted by a campaign to free the nurse on the grounds of a wrongful conviction.
The mum said: “We thought that she would get punished for what she’d done and we would be able to move on, but it’s not really worked out like that.
“There are a lot of very nasty comments online from people who just think it’s a TV drama and forget that it actually affects real people and their lives.
“I mean it’s bad enough for us, but at least we’ve still got him [their son].
“The parents that have lost their children… it triggers such a visceral reaction in me, I can’t even begin to imagine how they must feel.”
‘She is evil’
Lead prosecution witness Dr Dewi Evans has been vilified, ridiculed and faced online trolling after Letby’s convictionBlast Films
In the documentary, Dr Dewi stands by his original evidenceBlast Films
Mark McDonald, Letby’s barrister, has drawn together a panel of experts to put forward the argument that the nurse is innocentBlast Films
Lawyers fighting for a review into Letby’s case claim she is the victim of a miscarriage of justice and that she was the victim of a failing NHS which provides poor neonatal care.
Lead prosecution witness Dr Dewi Evans has been vilified, ridiculed and faced online trolling after Letby’s conviction.
The murder charges were based on her having injected air into the babies’ stomachs via feeding tubes, or into their veins.
Since the trial ended last July, Letby’s barrister Mark McDonald has drawn together a panel of experts to question Dr Dewi, and claims there is “overwhelming evidence” the nurse is innocent.
In the documentary, Dr Dewi stands by his original evidence – and labels Letby evil, calling on her to confess to her crimes.
The Welsh medic also claims he is being maligned by a “metropolitan elite” of medical experts.
He says: “What Lucy Letby did is beyond understanding, utterly, incredibly shocking. Is she evil? Yes, she’s evil. And I have no idea why anyone thinks that she’s anything but guilty.
What Lucy Letby did is beyond understanding, utterly, incredibly shocking. Is she evil? Yes, she’s evil. And I have no idea why anyone thinks that she’s anything but guilty
Dr Dewi Evans
“Two of my four grandchildren were born at the same time that Lucy Letby was waging carnage in Chester Hospital, and the children murdered by her should now be at school, enjoying holidays and enjoying life. That will never happen.
“Clearly Lucy Letby should confess, but I don’t think she will. I think she has blanked off all of her crimes in order to be able to live with herself.
“The most hysterical support [for her] has come from the metropolitan elite. Or what I call them, God’s most entitled.
“I’ve had to put up with an awful lot of social media abuse. You know, that should not happen, and it certainly shouldn’t happen to somebody who played a part in convicting one of England’s worst serial killers.
“These people seem to make things up, and I think that’s because this case didn’t involve the metropolitan elite.
“The barristers were from Liverpool. The court case was in Manchester, the expert witnesses were from west Wales and the Channel Islands.
“I think they can’t cope with that. I think they’ve been blindsided. I mean, what do these clever people think led to the death of these babies?”
No doubt
A cot where a baby referred to as Child G in the Lucy Letby court case was being treated when she projectile vomited Cheshire Constabulary/PA Wire
A photo of Letby’s bedroom at Westbourne Road, Chester, which was shown in court Cheshire Constabulary/PA Wire
A note found in Letby’s house which was shown at her trial at Manchester Crown Court. Cheshire Constabulary/PA Wire
As the debate rages on, the parents handed the memory box are also left wondering about their son.
The dad said: “Personally, I think she’s 100 per cent guilty.”
Mum said: “I veer from being guilty to not guilty, depending on how I feel that day, because I definitely feel something went on at the hospital.
“But then I also find it so hard to believe that somebody could actually do something like that.
“Obviously we will never know the whole truth.”
The documentary will first show under the title Conviction: The Case of Lucy Letby at the Curzon cinema in Soho, London on September 22. Lucy Letby: Murder or Mistake will air in two parts on Channel 4 from September 29 at 9pm.
Dr Shoo Lee, a Canadian neonatologist (right) is now part of Letby’s team of defence experts working with Mark McDonaldBlast Films
Letby’s ‘innocence report’
EXPERTS who believe Lucy Letby is innocent drew up a report which put the deaths at the Countess of Chester down to natural causes or poor medical care.
Letby’s barrister Mark McDonald gathered 14 senior clinicians to examine the evidence against her, including British doctor Neena Modi, an ex president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Care.
Lead panel member Dr Shoo Lee, a retired medic from Canada, became involved with the nurse’s defence after being made aware that prosecutors had used a 1989 academic paper he co-authored in the case against Letby.
He says his paper, which focused on how air embolisms can cause a baby’s skin to become discoloured, was incorrectly used.
At a press conference in February, he listed failings in care of babies at the Countess of Chester and claimed: “There was no medical evidence to support malfeasance causing death or injury.”
The panel claimed that in one death attributed to Letby, the baby actually died from natural respiratory complications and chronic lung disease.
In another case where Letby was convicted of attacking a baby by removing a breathing tube, Dr Lee said analysis suggests the child collapsed because the wrong size tube was fitted by a consultant “who didn’t know what he was doing.”
They claimed all the deaths could be explained by natural causes or medical errors.
However, the case did not rely on medical evidence alone.
Data showed Letby was on shift when all the babies fell ill, she repeatedly researched families or the deceased and took home medical records which a judge called “morbid records” of her crimes.
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