Neonatal nurse at British hospital found guilty of killing seven babies

LONDON (AP) — A neonatal nurse in a British hospital was found guilty of killing seven babies and trying to kill six others.

Lucy Letby, 33, was charged with murder in the deaths of five baby boys and two girls, and the attempted murder of five boys and five girls when she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between 2015 and 2016.

She was accused of deliberately harming newborn infants in various ways, including by injecting air into their bloodstreams and administering air or milk into their stomachs via nasogastric tubes.

She was also accused of poisoning infants by adding insulin to intravenous feeds and interfering with breathing tubes.

A jury of seven women and four men deliberated for 22 days before reaching the verdict.

One juror was excused well into deliberations for personal reasons and the judge later gave the remaining 11 jurors the option of reaching a verdict with 10 people in agreement instead of a unanimous decision.

Letby denied all the charges.

She was found not guilty on one charge of attempted murder and the jury could not reach a verdict on several others.

Some of the verdicts were announced in court earlier in the month, but the judge imposed a ban on reporting them until deliberations were complete.

Letby fought back tears on August 8 as the jury found her guilty of two counts of attempted murder and burst out crying as she left the courtroom.

She had more recently declined to be in the courtroom as additional verdicts were announced.

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