To the young couple she had helped through the trauma of giving birth to a premature son, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby had been through the difficult birth of their baby and had done everything she could to help them cope with those first few terrifying hours and days.
She had taken the time to explain why the toddler was on a ventilator and spent hours talking to his parents, reassuring them and gaining their confidence as they held a vigil by their son’s bedside.
So when the boy’s father suggested to his wife that they ask “nice” Lucy to be their son’s godmother, it felt like the perfect way to repay the kind and thoughtful nurse who put “such a shine” to her. seemed to have got him.
Little did they know that at the time she was in the middle of a killing spree that made her Britain’s most prolific child killer.
Reflecting on Letby’s convictions this week, his mother, who asked not to be named to protect the identities of her two young children, said that thought now made her “physically ill.”
One couple has said they trusted Lucy Letby (pictured) so much that they almost made her godmother to their baby
This photo of the parents’ premature baby was taken by killer nurse Lucy Letby. They now believe she wanted to harm their child
This photo was in a Mother’s Day card from Lucy Letby, which featured a photo of the newborn
The couple now suspect their boy was attacked by Letby, who singled him out as one of her favourites, and even got mad at other nurses when she wasn’t supposed to look after him. Once he was found with an unusual amount of blood in his diaper when Letby was tending to him. The doctors couldn’t find a real cause.
Another time, when the killer was his designated nurse, he suddenly inexplicably collapsed as she was about to hand him over to the night staff. Fortunately, a doctor came to his aid and a senior nurse took over and he recovered quickly.
Letby also sent the toddler’s mom a handmade Mother’s Day card featuring a Polaroid photo she’d taken of their baby in the incubator. Even though he still needed oxygen 24 hours a day, the photo showed their son without a mask or oxygen tubes over his face. When asked by the concerned parents, Letby dismissed their fear by saying, “I thought you’d like a picture of him without tubes.”
During the Letby murder trial, she was charged with tampering with breathing tubes and ramming medical equipment through small throats.
The boy’s father told the Mail: ‘We had a handmade card and we assumed everyone in the department got one. But they didn’t, it was just us. Inside was a picture of my son without breathing apparatus. She said she took it out to clean or sterilize it. Now that everything has come to light, I should have had more doubts about it.’
Eight months ago, the couple had a premature baby, who also needed breathing assistance. They now know that Letby should never have deprived their first born of oxygen.
Later, when the child was discharged, Letby asked to be friends with his mother on Facebook and commented on posts when he ended up back in hospital, asking if he ‘needed help breathing?’ His mother added, “That gives me chills.”
The 32-year-old, a student nurse, told the Mail she’d had a “horrible” pregnancy. She gave birth to twins, but lost one of the babies at eight weeks and developed preeclampsia four weeks later.
Her son was born nine weeks premature by emergency caesarean section at Countess of Chester Hospital in February 2016, nine months after Letby’s murder spree. She was at his birth, her third night shift in a series of four.
The previous night she allegedly tried to kill a girl by tampering with her breathing tube. The jury failed to reach a verdict in her case.
The couple’s son was immediately taken to intensive care on a ventilator. His mother was very poor and in a highly dependent ward. She was unable to visit for 48 hours.
But her husband, a 33-year-old engineer, immediately went to see their newborn baby. Letby took care of him and was always present for the next few days.
“I have to be honest, she was nice,” the father said. “She didn’t seem to be able to do enough for us.”
The mother added: ‘It seemed like every shift she was on, Lucy wanted my son, she mentioned him as her favourite, she said that a few times.
‘She was there day and night, we had long conversations with her, especially at night when it was quiet. She talked about her house, she talked a lot about her parents, she really loved them, her cats, hanging out with other nurses and socializing… I started to think of her as a friend.”
The couple were unable to hold their son until he was seven days old. Letby was the nurse who lifted him out of his incubator and passed him to them that first time. Her photo of the happy moment hangs in the couple’s living room.
In a video shot in his first few days, Letby can also be heard cooing about their son. Soon after, Letby told them he had been found with a large amount of blood in his diaper. The boy’s mother said, “They ran tests and couldn’t find a cause for the blood.”
Letby received a life sentence for the murder of seven infants and the attempted murder of six others
Letby at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2012 – three years before she embarked on a sadistic bout of infanticide
The Countess of Chester Hospital, where Lucy Letby worked in the neonatal ward and killed seven babies. She also tried to kill another six people
Mr Goss gave Letby a life sentence, saying she acted ‘completely contrary to the normal human instincts of feeding and caring for babies’
On another occasion, Letby was furious when she showed up to work and another nurse – who gave evidence at the trial – had been assigned to their son, they said. “When we arrived, one of the nurses caring for him that night came up to us and said, ‘Gosh, I can’t believe how annoyed Lucy is that she doesn’t have your son tonight.
She said Lucy asked her four or five times if she wanted to trade, but luckily the nurse refused. At the time I thought: it’s nice that people are fighting over him. Looking back, we were very lucky she didn’t have him that night.’ The toddler’s father added, “He always seemed to have big dips when she was taking care of him,” he added. “Each time (he improved) she was a miracle worker who kept saving him.”
At the end of March 2016, after about five weeks on the ward, their son was healthy enough to be discharged. Soon after, Letby asked to become friends with the mother on Facebook.
When she made a post explaining that her son had to be admitted to a specialist hospital due to an infection, Letby responded, sending messages of support. The boy’s father thought that Letby had been so kind to them that he asked his wife if they should make her their son’s godmother.
Police investigations revealed a trove of grim memories Letby kept from her victims – and a post-it note that read, “I’m bad, I did this”
“When he was in hospital, she couldn’t do enough for us,” he said. “She kept in touch. I thought she was really interested in his life, so I thought, why not include her in his life?”
In the end, his mother decided that a relative would be more suitable.
However, neither suspected Letby of any wrongdoing and when her face appeared on the news at the time of her arrest in July 2018, the mother said she was stunned. When asked what she thought of Letby, the mother said, ‘It’s really making me sick. She was so manipulative with us, so kind, friendly and caring. I have mixed emotions. It would be easier to really, really hate her if she hadn’t been like that.’
Like so many parents of babies involved in the case, the couple has serious trust issues and they feel overprotective of their children.
She said she had been in contact with police over the past few days and was assured officers continued to investigate their case. Her husband said, “I hope for clarification, just a definitive answer. Did she do something (to my son) or not?’