A British nurse convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to kill six others may have been motivated to commit the serial killings because she wanted the attention of a doctor in the pediatric ward, the Guardian reports.
This week, 33-year-old Lucy Letby was found guilty in connection with the attacks at the Countess of Chester hospital in the northern England city of Cheshire.
Between 2015 and 2016, Letby injected air into the babies’ stomachs and blood, fed them too much milk, assaulted them physically and poisoned them using insulin.
Investigators found notes written by Letby at her home in which she allegedly confessed to the killings, in one note allegedly writing, “I AM EVIL I DID THIS,” according to CNN.
Prosecutors made the claim that Letby was having a secret relationship with a married doctor at the hospital who would be called in response to pediatric emergencies, suggesting that one of the motivating factors in the murders was to attract the doctor’s “personal attention,” according to the Guardian.
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Letby denied the claim, despite text messages obtained by authorities showing the pair were regularly in communication, exchanged love and heart emojis and met outside of work.
Other reasons suggested for the killings include the possibility that Letby found the murders thrilling, was bored caring for babies who did not have significant medical needs, or enjoyed “playing God,” according to the Guardian.
Letby had attempted to deceive other hospital workers that the deaths were from natural causes, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service told Manchester Crown Court.
“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,” prosecutor Pascale Jones told the court, according to the Guardian. “In her hands, innocuous substances like air, milk, fluids – or medication like insulin – would become lethal. She perverted her learning and weaponized her craft to inflict harm, grief and death.”
Hospital officials were reportedly slow to respond to concerns about the deaths and failed to properly investigate the serial-killing nurse, according to the BBC.
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