A psychiatrist has explained what he believes was Lucy Letby’s ‘true motivation’ after analysing the chilling notes that police discovered in her home.
On Monday, Letby was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others while working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire, between 2015 and 2016.
After being arrested by Cheshire Constabulary at 6am on 3 July 2018, police conducted searches of her home and found a number of handwritten notes.
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During the trial, prosecutors wanted to show jurors 'one note in particular' upon which Letby had written phrases including 'I don’t deserve to live', 'I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them', 'I am a horrible evil person' and 'I am evil I did this'.
Other notes included references to some of her colleagues, while police also found paperwork from her time at the hospital.
Letby's solicitor told jurors the comments were 'the anguished outpouring of a young woman in fear and despair', while the former nurse later told the jury her version of events.
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She said: "I felt at the time that if I'd done something wrong I must be such an evil, awful person... I'd somehow been incompetent and had done something wrong which had affected those babies.
"I felt I must be responsible in some way. I think looking back on it now, I was really struggling, and this was a way of me expressing what I wasn't able to say to anyone else."
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Soham Das has now discussed his take on the messages, having analysed how they reflected Letby’s ‘true motivation’ in her crimes.
He believes the notes are likely to be the closest we ever come to understanding the former nurse’s ‘depraved thoughts and intentions’.
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Writing for the Daily Mail, he explained: "Her true motivations, I believe, are power, control and the thrill of being around the grieving process.
“There's evidence of vitriolic anger or jealousy towards the happy family unit, expressed in the words: 'I'll never have children or marry, I'll never know what it's like to have a family.'
“We know that Letby wanted to be present when parents were overwhelmed by grief, even when the dead babies had not been her own patients.
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“She even sent one family a sympathy card after murdering their premature baby. Clearly, there's a morbid urge to feed off their pain.”
Das, who is the author of Two Minds: Stories Of Murder, Justice And Recovery From A Forensic Psychiatrist, said this marked the ‘most extraordinary and unique clinical case’ he has ever encountered.
“I doubt whether we will ever fully understand her. Because she will never leave prison, she is unlikely to get the kind of intensive psychiatric support that could lead to real remorse.
“Without that, it's very unlikely she could have an epiphany that explains what she has done.
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“The only insight into her poisoned, twisted mind that we are ever likely to have lies in these bizarre Post-it notes.”
Topics: Lucy Letby, UK News, Crime, True Crime, Mental Health
Jess Hardiman