Lucy Letby was convicted of killing the babies in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between 2015 and 2016, when she preyed on the vulnerabilities of premature and sick newborns as well as their anxious parents.
"Parents were exposed to her morbid curiosity and her fake compassion," said the lead prosecutor, Pascale Jones.
"Too many of them returned home to empty baby rooms. Many surviving children live with permanent consequences of her assaults upon their lives."
The 33-year-old harmed babies in her care by injecting air into their blood and stomachs, overfeeding them with milk, physically assaulting them and poisoning them with insulin, Manchester Crown Court in northern England heard.
Police found a trove of handwritten notes while searching Letby's house during their investigation, including one that read: "I am evil I did this."
She secretly attacked 13 babies on the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester hospital between 2015 and 2016, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.
Her intention was to kill the babies while duping her colleagues into believing there was a natural cause of death, prosecutors argued.
Consultants told to apologise for raising concerns
Doctors at the hospital began to notice a steep rise in the number of babies who were dying or unexpectedly collapsing, the court heard.
But concerns raised by consultants over the increased mortality rate of patients under Letby's care were initially dismissed by the hospital's management, the UK's PA Media news agency reported.
In September 2016, Letby filed a grievance against her employers after she was relocated from the hospital's neonatal ward. She was put back on clerical duties after two male triplets died and a baby boy collapsed on three days in a row in June 2016.
Later that year, she was notified of the allegations against her by the Royal College of Nursing union, but the complaint was later resolved in her favour. Doctors were asked to formally apologise to Letby in writing.
She was scheduled to return to the neonatal department in March 2017, but her return did not take place. The hospital trust contacted the police, who opened an investigation.
Nurse said 'I killed them' in handwritten notes
In 2018 and 2019, Letby was arrested twice by police in connection with their investigation, PA said. She was arrested again in November 2020.
Authorities found notes Letby had written during searches of her address.
"I don't deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I'm not good enough to care for them," she wrote in one memo, adding in another, "I am a horrible evil person" and in capital letters "I am evil I did this."
Pascale Jones of the CPS called Letby's actions a "complete betrayal of the trust placed in her."
"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," she said.
"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."
'Heartbroken, devastated, angry'
Families of the victims said they will "forever be grateful" to jurors who had to sit through 145 days of "gruelling" evidence.
In a joint statement read outside court, they also expressed their gratitude to medical experts, consultants, doctors and nursing staff who came to give evidence during the trial, which they described as "extremely harrowing and distressing" at times to listen to.
However, they admit they "may never truly know why this happened."
"To lose a baby is a heartbreaking experience that no parent should ever have to go through," a joint statement said.
"But to lose a baby or to have a baby harmed in these particular circumstances is unimaginable," the statement added.
"Justice has been served and the nurse who should have been caring for our babies has been found guilty of harming them.
"But this justice will not take away from the extreme hurt, anger and distress that we have all had to experience.
"We are heartbroken, devastated, angry and feel numb."
How the case played out
The 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 guilty of the seven murders and of seven charges of attempted murder relating to six children. She was cleared of 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.
During the lengthy trial, which began last October, prosecutors said the hospital in 2015 experienced a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying or suffering sudden deteriorations in their health for no apparent reason.
Letby testified for 14 days, denying all accusations she intentionally harmed any baby.
"I only ever did my best to care for them," she testified. "I am there to care not to harm."
She sobbed at times and defended the collection of medical records she kept at home on some of the babies in her care.
Letby will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on August 21.
