Lucy Letby, was this week sentenced to life behind bars after being found guilty of killing newborns in her care at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire, in the United Kingdom.
Dubbed “Britain’s most prolific child serial killer in modern history”, she was convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to kill six other infants.
The 33-year-old former nurse deliberately injected babies with air, force fed others milk and poisoned two of the infants with insulin. Letby secretly injected the 13 babies on the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester hospital between 2015 and 2016.
The BBC reported that she refused to appear in the dock at the Manchester Crown Court in northern England for her sentencing hearing.
Letby’s case bears a striking resemblance to the case of another UK healthcare worker, Beverley Allitt.
According to Daily Mail, Allitt was convicted of killing four babies and attempting to murder three others as well as causing bodily harm to six more children between February and April 1991.
Allitt is said to have administered insulin in large doses to at least two of her patient while a large air bubble was found in the body of another.
Following intensive police investigations, Allitt was handed down 13 life sentences.
At the time, Nottingham Crown Court judge, Justice David Latham, called Allitt “a serious danger to others”, adding it was unlikely that she would be considered safe enough for release. Allitt remains incarcerated at a facility in the UK.
Another medical professional, Harold Shipman, was also found guilty of killing 15 patients while working in the Greater Manchester area.
The Independent reported that Shipman murdered at least 250 people in a 23-year period and he was arrested and convicted. Shipman later died by suicide in Wakefield prison in 2004.
IOL
