Lucy Letby: Murder or Mistake will air on Channel 4 tonight (September 29) and the documentary features parents who have never spoken out about their dealings with the killer nurse until now
A mum and dad who say they had personal dealings with Lucy Letby have spoken out for the first time – claiming the killer nurse laughed in their faces when they feared the worst had happened to their child.
The couple made the shocking revelation in a new Channel 4 documentary called Lucy Letby: Murder or Mistake which airs tonight (September 29).
Letby is serving life for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more while working as a nurse inside the Countess of Chester Hospital.
And as for why the parents, whose son was born in Chester, have now decided to go public with their comments, the mum said: “The only people who know are our close friends and family. We have never gone public at all.
“It is nice to be able to tell our story because so many people have an opinion but they weren’t actually there.”
The couple, who decided to speak out anonymously, explained how their son was born in the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015. They described him as full term and healthy, pointing out that the pregnancy was smooth.
However, after giving birth, the boy was moved to a special unit to help his breathing, and the mum added: “We were taken back to the room where I had been in labour and we were just left there on our own not really knowing what was going on.”
She said the moment of uncertainty “seemed to last forever” until a nurse, who they would later discover to be Letby, walked over carrying a “memory box”. Inside was a tiny hat, baby wristband and blanket, items commonly associated with the loss of a tot.
The mum remembered: “She came straight up to us. I didn’t really see her. I just saw the box and I burst into tears. I remember saying to her, something like, ‘Oh my god, is he dead?’
“And she just laughed. She was laughing when she thought that we thought the worst had happened. She said, ‘No, we just give these boxes out to all the parents of babies who have been really poorly.’”
Letby, from Hereford, is said to have offered to take the couple to see their son, but they were soon met by a doctor who explained the boy had been resuscitated three times.
They claimed the doctor was unable to explain what caused the issue and the mum recalled being “very upset” and “frightened”.
The dad said he felt “confused” and that it “didn’t make any sense” before the doctor advised them that the baby would be better cared for if he was sent to Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
And the mum added: “That decision is what saved him I think. We will always be grateful to that doctor for that won’t we?”
The parents said their son picked up quickly away from Chester before he was allowed to go home.
However, despite putting the “laughing” nurse to the back of their minds, the mum said: “It was only when we saw her face in the newspaper later on that we both recognised her straight away.
“The nurse who gave us the box was Lucy Letby.”
Their case was investigated by police who were looking into Letby but no charges relating to their son came to light.
Despite this, the dad still believes Letby had “done something” to the boy who now suffers from seizures and delayed development.
The mum added: “Obviously there’s no concrete evidence. We don’t have a magic ball that we can go back and look at, but it’s just too much.”
The couple cried when Letby was jailed last year and she is now serving 15 life sentences for the murders and attempted murders of infants. She has also lost two attempts to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeals.
However, addressing campaigners who are intent on helping to free Letby for wrongful conviction, the mum said: “We thought that she would get punished for what she’d done and we would be able to move on, but it’s not really worked out like that.
“There are a lot of very nasty comments online from people who just think it’s a TV drama and forget that it actually affects real people and their lives.
“I mean it’s bad enough for us, but at least we’ve still got him [their son].
“The parents that have lost their children… it triggers such a visceral reaction in me, I can’t even begin to imagine how they must feel.”
Lucy Letby: Murder or Mistake will air in two parts on Channel 4 from September 29 at 9pm