Was Baby K serial killer nurse Lucy Letby's eighth victim?
Could Lucy Letby have claimed an eighth victim? TV’s Dr Ravi claimed killer nurse dislodged breathing tube of baby girl born weighing just 700g grams – who died three days after ‘attempted murder’
Lucy Letby murdered seven babies and tried to kill six more in a year-long killing spree – making her the most prolific baby killer in modern British history.
Between June 2015 and June 2016, the NHS nurse murdered five boys and two girls. But, according to prosecutors, she also may have claimed an eighth murder victim – a very premature girl known as Baby K.
Letby, 33, was accused of trying to kill the tiny baby, who was born weighing just 700g grams, by dislodging her breathing tube two hours after her birth, causing her to collapse.
However, the murder charge was withdrawn before the trial and the jury were later unable to reach a verdict on a new charge of attempted murder.
Baby K – who like all the infants in the Letby case was given a pseudonym to protect her family’s privacy – was born after her mother went into labour 15 weeks early in February 2016
Prosecutors believe Lucy Letby may have claimed an eighth murder victim – a very premature girl known as Baby K. NB – there is no suggestion this photo shows Baby K
One of the unit’s consultants, television medic Dr Ravi Jayaram, told the trial that he interrupted Letby sabotaging Baby K’s care.
He said he went to check on the child in the early hours of February 17, 2016, before finding Letby ‘standing by the incubator and the ventilator’.
He said he noticed the infant’s blood oxygen levels were in the 80s and dropping but Letby was ‘doing nothing’ to respond.
The prosecution accused the nurse of interfering with the baby’s breathing tube before Dr Jayaram entered the room before interfering with an alarm to ensure staff were not alerted to the drop in oxygen levels.
Baby K lost consciousness and had to be resuscitated by Dr Jayaram.
The infant was transferred to a more specialist centre at Arrowe Park Hospital, on the Wirral, but died three days later.
Television medic Dr Ravi Jayaram told the trial that he interrupted Letby sabotaging Baby K’s care
She had spent just 11 hours at the Countess.
In heart-breaking testimony to the trial, her mother described her first-born’s final moments.
‘We made the decision to switch off the machines and let her go,’ she said. ‘It was by far the hardest decision of my life.
‘One of the staff showed us to a family room where it was peaceful and quiet. Our daughter was wrapped in a blanket and was wearing a little hat.
‘She was placed into my husband’s arms and the doctor said to us, ‘we can do this whenever you are ready.
‘The doctor removed the breathing pump and stepped out of the room and said they would return in 20 minutes.
‘Our daughter was in my husband’s arms when she took her last breath and silently passed away.’
Letby was sentenced yesterday to an unprecedented 14 life terms
Baby K’s father, a director of his own home building business, which he runs with his wife, described her as his ‘perfect little girl.’
In an online post he praised the ‘amazing’ care she received at Arrowe Park.
The couple, both 40, who live in north Wales, have since undertaken charity events to raise money for premature infants.
They have gone on to have two healthy daughters and a son together.
Letby was sentenced yesterday to an unprecedented 14 life terms.
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