Lucy Letby’s ‘jail’ – clothes shopping and petting sheep with monster inmates

Lucy Letby will be confined to a cramped cell behind bars for the rest of her life after becoming Britain’s most prolific child killer.

The former NHS neonatal nurse was found to have barbarically killed seven babies and tried to kill a further six during her campaign of terror in the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire between June 2015 and 2016. Following a lengthy trial at Manchester Crown Court, last August she was handed a whole life order for her sickening crimes.

But the court was unable to reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five children. Following a retrial on one of the counts, Letby was yesterday found guilty of the attempted murder of a little girl known as Baby K, who died in February 2016.

The re-trial heard evidence from a consultant who the jury was told “caught her red-handed” over the little girl’s cot and failed to act as her oxygen levels dropped. The prosecution said that Leby deliberately dislodged the helpless baby’s breathing tube whilst in her care. Baby K died three days later after her parents turned off her machines to “end her struggle”.

Letby is the 68th criminal and fourth female convict in British history to be told they will never walk free from jail again. Sentencing her to a whole-life order, Mr Justice Goss said: “You will spend the rest of your life in prison.”

Whole-life orders are the most severe punishment available in the country’s criminal justice system and are reserved for those who commit the most heinous crimes. Once sentenced, Letby was first held in segregation to stop her being attacked by furious inmates.

The Times reported she is likely to be jailed in HMP Low Newton in Durham alongside Joanna Dennehy, who was also given a whole-life term for murdering three men during a 10-day spree in 2013. Rose West was previously an inmate at HMP Low Newton – a top security female prison – as was Baby P’s mum Tracey Connelly, and Britain’s youngest female murderer Sharon Carr, who randomly selected and killed at the age of just 12.

HMP Low Newton is next door to HMP Frankland, dubbed ‘monster mansion’, and is home to Soham murderer killer Ian Huntley, killer cop Wayne Couzens and Levi Bellfield. HMP Low Newton was inspected by the Independent Monitoring Boards in June 2021 and a subsequent report said as of April 2022, there were 242 prisoners living in a safe environment. The report says: “Women live in a clean, decent and comfortable environment. They are provided with all the essential basic items.”

Prisoners are allowed to make their cells feel “homely” but due to the nature of her crimes, Letby likely stayed in the prison’s segregation unit at first. She was likely given a reintegration plan that would eventually allow her to live in her own cell among other inmates.

The inspection report says: “Cells were not well equipped with only a bed, toilet and sink. The regime was limited with only an hour a day in the open air and half an hour to complete daily tasks, such as showering.” Letby may be allowed to pet sheep and goats as therapy for inmates as part of a new scheme which ensures prisoners are treated humanely. As well as those animals, the prison also has a resident rabbit and two birds which are looked after by inmates.

HMP Low Newton has a prison shop called ‘Rags to Riches’ which sells donated clothing to inmates including clothes for court and funerals, maternity wear and some clothing from transgender prisoners. The women’s prison is also home to the ‘Primrose Project,’ which treats women with ‘dangerous and severe personality disorders’ making it the only UK women’s prison to do so.

Letby will be subjected to psychological inquiries and reports and will remain a suicide risk due to her whole life sentence. She will likely be placed under suicide watch – but not indefinitely. It will take place in a number of forms – from CCTV cameras watching Letby to direct supervision from officers, noting her moves every 10 minutes. Levels of self-harm and violence are “relatively low” at HMP Low Newton and there were no deaths in custody in the reporting year 2021-22.

She’ll be spending at least 22 hours a day inside her single cramped cell – approximately 1.8 metres wide by three metres in length. Inside the cell, Letby will have a single bed, a storage unit, a chair, and a toilet.

Due to her confinement, it’s likely she will be encouraged by staff to be mentally stimulated to avoid extreme stress, anger, and frustration. Her life of solitude will be filled with reading stories about others – she will be able to read newspapers, books, and watch TV, but not much else. For an hour a day, she will be able to exercise, walking the prison grounds.

She will, however, be able to speak to her family and receive visits, which will be vetted by police, though they will be few and far between. A convicted prisoner is usually allowed at least two 1-hour visits every four weeks. Letby won’t be able to receive emails directly, but she can receive messages through the Email a Prisoner service.

And when it comes to phone calls, she will only be able to speak to those named on her friends and family list. As this needs to be checked by security, it’ll take a few days following her arrival for her to be able to make a call. Later in life, it is expected for Letby to be moved to a lower-security prison to see out her final days before her death behind bars.