Lucy Letby had novel about young woman who had affair with married man in her childlike bedroom
Lucy Letby kept romance novels and memoirs by doctors who miscarried in her childish bedroom, it turns out – while questions continue to be raised about the murderous NHS nurse’s motives for murdering seven babies.
Letby, 33, was found guilty of killing seven youths and a further six counts of attempted murder after a months-long trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Images from her bedroom, shown to the jury at the trial, provide what little insight there is into the mind of Britain’s most prolific child killer of modern times.
On the bedside table nearest the window is a copy of Never Greener by Ruth Jones, with the cover tagline: “Sometimes we wonder what could have been…sometimes we find out.”
Letby’s trial heard claims that the medic had begun an affair with a married doctor.
Lucy Letby’s childhood bedroom at her home in Chester. It has fairy lights around the bedposts, floral curtains, stuffed animals on the bed and wall hangings that say ‘A dream is a wish your heart makes’ and ‘happy prosecco season’
Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, 33, found guilty of murdering seven babies and six counts of trying to kill others while working at Countess of Chester Hospital
Ruth Jones’ Never Greener – a novel about a woman’s affair with a married man – and Dr. Rana Awdish’s In Shock, which lashes out at the ‘inability of doctors to recognize suffering’, were both on Lucy Letby’s bedside table
The pediatric clerk called her “boyfriend” several times during the trial by prosecutor Nick Johnson KC.
It was suggested at the trial that Letby was so enamored with the medic that she attacked and killed babies knowing he would be called upon to come and help.
Written by Gavin and Stacey co-creator Jones, the blurb for Never Greener details how main characters Kate, a successful actress, and Callum rekindle an old fling.
It reads, “They face a choice: run away from each other or risk finding out what could have been.
“Second chances are a rare gift in life. But that doesn’t mean they always have to be taken along…’
The other book on Letby’s bedside table is a memoir of a doctor’s recovery from a near-fatal miscarriage that serves as an attack on the “inability of physicians to see and acknowledge the pain of loss and human suffering.”
In Shock, by intensive care physician Dr. Rana Awdish, is touted as a “harrowing account of her extraordinary journey from doctor to patient, seeing for the first time the dysfunctional disconnection of her profession from patients.”
The blurb issued by the publisher adds, “(It is) a call to physicians to view each patient not as a diagnosis but as a human being.”
Photos from Letby’s bedroom after her sentencing on Friday paint a picture of a quiet, simple woman who looked like all the others – with an array of pink sweaters, bags and dressing gowns brightening up an otherwise plain-looking room.
Her bed, decorated with floral sheets, is covered with stuffed animals, including Winnie the Pooh, while her wall decorations bore clichéd inspirational quotes.
One, in bright pink and shimmering silver, read “Happy Prosecco Season”; on one canvas with a sunny winter day was the quote ‘A dream is a wish your heart mades’, a text from the Disney classic Cinderella.
Photos of Lucy Letby’s bedroom were released following her sentencing. On a canvas on the wall is the slogan: ‘Leave sparkles where you go’
The photos show cuddly toys scattered on the bed, which is decorated with a duvet cover of floral motifs and butterflies
An image from the corner of Lucy Letby’s bedroom shows pink suitcases, a Sports Direct bag filled with clothing, and two handbags. A pink hoodie is seen in the reflection of a freestanding mirror
Another canvas reads, “Leave sparkles wherever you go.”
The bed is not made in the photos released by the prosecution – Letby’s father John is said to have made the bed after she was arrested.
Photographs shown to the judges of the freshly made bed showed an arrangement of soft toys on top of the bed: Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, a rabbit and a brown teddy bear. The duvet cover had the motif: ‘Sweet Dreams’.
Other photos show a litany of purses and handbags; an unzipped suitcase next to a Sports Direct bag brimming with clothes; two dressing gowns hanging from the back of the bedroom door, one pink and decorated with white polka dots.
However, the room, and others in Letby’s house, hid evidence of her terrifying attack on defenseless babies.
Officers found mementos, handwritten CPR notes and even a post-it note that read “I did this” after a thorough search of her home, garage and even a bedroom in her parents’ home in Hereford.
Friends had nicknamed Letby “the innocent” – a quiet, simple woman, often making funny faces in photos, who went on holiday with her parents every year until she was arrested in July 2018.
Even now, after her conviction, police say they are no closer to establishing a motive for why Lucy Letby inflicted so much violence on young babies.
Lucy Letby’s police photo
Detective Paul Hughes, who led the investigation into neonatal deaths at Countess of Chester Hospital, believes Lucy Letby created crises for attention
The Countess of Chester Hospital, where Lucy Letby worked within the neonatal ward
The lead officer in the investigation concluded that Letby created crises in the neonatal ward for attention.
Superintendent Paul Hughes of Cheshire Police said: ‘Obviously she likes the attention, I think she also liked the attention of a trial.
But if we’re looking for why she did this, then to repeat her own words, “she’s bad and she did this”.
“You could see how smart she was, the way she deliberately misled doctors on hospital notes.
“To be able to mislead doctors into believing a child was about to collapse, to deliberately mislead smart doctors and colleagues.
‘Did she want it (the note) to be found? Did she just want to write it down or did she just want to tell the world she was bad, and did this?
Did she want the fame she has? Without telling us why, the motive was right in front of us to find.”
The nurse, who was not in court to hear the final verdicts after telling her lawyers she did not want to go, is awaiting sentencing.
She has already informed her legal team that she will not appear in court on Monday – meaning she will not hear statements from her victims’ families, or the judge’s comments on her crimes.