By Newsdesk

The chilling case of killer nurse Lucy Letby has left the world shaken. From 2015 to 2016, she used her position and knowledge to attack 13 premature babies, seven of whom died.

After a series of mysterious deaths at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital, some of Letby’s colleagues started noticing the connection of these unfortunate incidents with her.

A British consultant paediatrician of Indian origin at the hospital is reported to have raised concerns about the nurse, which were ignored by the management.

Dr Ravi Jayaram said that some of the babies could have been saved if his concerns were taken seriously and the police were alerted sooner.

The 33-year-old nurse was first arrested in July 2018 and has been found guilty of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder six others during the twelve-month period, making her the most prolific serial killer of children in modern British history. The trial took place at the Manchester Crown Court and she was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday, 21 August.

Dr Jayaram told ITV News, “I do genuinely believe that there are four or five babies who could be going to school now who aren’t.”

He also mentioned that consultants started expressing their worries following the deaths of three infants in June 2015. With the occurrence of more infant fatalities, they conducted multiple meetings with hospital executives to voice their concerns regarding Letby.

However, during one of the meetings, doctors were told to “draw a line under the ‘Lucy issue’” and to apologise to her for alleged ‘victimisation’.

It took more than a year, in April 2017, for the NHS trust to allow doctors to meet with a police officer.

“The police, after listening to us for less than 10 minutes, realised that this is something that they had to be involved with. I could have punched the air,” said Dr Jayaram.

An investigation into the deaths was then launched by the police, eventually leading to the serial killer’s arrest.

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told the court that Letby used a variety of barbaric methods to attack the babies in the neonatal ward, which included injecting air into their bloodstream, force feeding milk and administering high doses of insulin. In some cases, they also found evidence of impact-type trauma.

Pascale Jones of the CPS said, “Lucy Letby sought to deceive her colleagues and pass off the harm she caused as nothing more than a worsening of each baby’s existing vulnerability. In her hands, innocuous substances like air, milk, fluids – or medication like insulin – would become lethal. She perverted her learning and weaponised her craft to inflict harm, grief and death.”

He added, “Time and again, she harmed babies, in an environment which should have been safe for them and their families. Her attacks were a complete betrayal of the trust placed in her.”

On 21 August, Judge Mr Justice Goss said before passing sentence, “Over a period of 13 months, you killed seven fragile babies and attempted to kill six others.

“Some of your victims were only a day, or a few days old. All were extremely vulnerable.”

He added, “This was a cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable children, knowing your actions were causing significant physical suffering.

“There was a malevolence bordering on sadism in your actions.

“During the course of this trial you have coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing.

“You have no remorse. There are no mitigating factors.

“In their totality, the offences of murder and attempted murder are of exceptionally high seriousness, and just punishment, according to law, requires a whole life order.”