EXCLUSIVE: Serial killer nurse Lucy Letby’s sick grin as hospital poster girl as she comforts a newborn years before her murder spree began
A chilling photo has surfaced of murderous nurse Lucy Letby comforting a newborn baby while posing as a poster girl for the Countess of Chester Hospital.
The convicted murderer, smiling broadly in her blue nurse’s uniform, leans over the baby in a hospital cot with her hand on the stomach.
Letby’s image was featured on a full page in the 2012-2013 annual report of the Trust in Cheshire.
Ironically, the report boasts that the Trust is one of the few in the country to have achieved the highest level of ‘safe care’.
This wasn’t the only time the killer was used as a poster girl for the NHS – in 2013 she appeared on material promoting the hospital’s BabyGrow appeal to raise money for a new neonatal unit.
A chilling photo has emerged of murderous nurse Lucy Letby comforting a newborn as she poses as a poster girl for the Countess of Chester Hospital
Letby’s image was featured on a full page in the 2012-2013 annual report of the Trust in Cheshire. Pictured: Countess of Chester Hospital, where Letby murdered six babies
Lucy Letby, 33, (pictured in custody) was sentenced last month to the rest of her life in prison for murdering seven babies and trying to kill six others between 2015 and 2016
In a staff profile promoting the department, she said: ‘My role includes caring for a wide variety of babies who need different levels of support.
“Some are here for a few days, others for many months and I enjoy watching them progress and support their families.”
Letby, 33, was sentenced last month to the rest of her life in prison for murdering seven babies between 2015 and 2016 and attempting to kill six others.
Cheshire Police are now investigating whether Letby was already harming babies at the time the chilling photo was taken.
It comes as a mother who discovered a photo of the killer with her poor baby at his christening called for his death to be reexamined.
Emily Morris’ one-month-old Alvin was treated at the ward Letby worked at the Countess of Chester in 2013.
She said that Letby told her that Alvin’s condition worsened the night before he died and that it almost seemed like “she was hinting that she had done something.”
Ms Morris, 35, from Deeside, Flintshire, said the photo made her ‘nauseous’ and called for a new inquiry into her baby’s death after police concluded in 2018 that there were no suspicious circumstances.
Both Ms. Morris and Alvin’s stepfather Mark Lewis saw the photo for the first time this week after it was found on a disc in a memory box they were previously unable to download.
Cheshire Police are now investigating whether Letby was already harming babies at the time the chilling photo was taken. Lucy Letby is pictured working at the hospital
It comes as a mother who discovered a photo of the killer with her poor baby at his christening called for his death to be reexamined. The photo – taken at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2013 – shows Emily Morris lifting her son Alvin out of a cot as Letby leans in to help
The couple have spoken of their horror when they discovered the image of the killer fussing over the baby.
“It shocked us. It’s really hard to see someone who’s done that with the babies next to you. It makes you sick,’ Mrs. Morris said.
You can see her grabbing his blanket. I’ve told everyone she did and now there’s proof. That’s proof she was with him.’
Ms. Morris added that Letby had written a message in her child’s baptism book that read: “To Alvin, with love on your special day.”
She told the Daily Mail: “It’s weird. It makes you sick looking at it.’
Mrs. Morris first noticed Letby’s strange behavior around Alvin, who had been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, at the christening that took place at the hospital.
She said the nurse tried to touch and lean over him all the time during the intimate ceremony.
Lucy Letby told us that Alvin deteriorated the night before he died. In the morning he was dead, which is weird. It was like she was hinting that she had done something,” she recalled.
“She had it the night before… We say it’s suspicious. It’s weird. She must have done something.’
This wasn’t the only time the killer was used as a poster girl for the NHS – in 2013 she appeared on material promoting the hospital’s BabyGrow appeal to raise money for a new neonatal unit. Lucy Letby is pictured in 2012 holding a baby at the Countess of Chester Hospital
Det Supt Paul Hughes of Cheshire Police said the force was ‘committed to a full and thorough investigation of Lucy Letby’s entire period as a nurse’.
“This investigation continues, through a transparent and open-minded process,” he said.
“The families of all babies participating in this study have been informed and supported. We will of course provide a more detailed update as soon as we can.”
The UK Department of Health and Social Care has commissioned an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the deaths and how Letby was able to carry out her killing spree.