Six things we learned from Netflix's new Lucy Letby documentary film
The streamer are exploring the crimes of the nurse whois currently serving 15 whole-life ordersNetflix’s new documentary about convicted child murder Lucy Letby is now available to stream, but what did we learn from it?Titled The Investigation Of Lucy Letby, the documentary about the convicted child killer was released globally on Wednesday morning (February 3).Featuring ever-before-seen footage of the nurse during her arrest and questioning, as well as new testimony from police and contributions from the mother of one of the victims.Some of the names, appearances and voices were altered from interviews conducted, with some interviewees digitally anonymised. This is to maintain their anonymity following the 90 minute film’s releaseLetby, 36, from Hereford, is currently serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016. It was confirmed last month that Letby will face no further charges over additional deaths and collapses of babies that were investigated by police.Letby’s mum’s reaction to arrestDuring the documentary, Letby is shown through police body cam footage being arrested on three separate occasions. While her first two arrests are shown later on, it’s the final one which opens the documentary.Letby’s mum opened the door to the police and could be heard saying ‘no, not again’ and ‘please no’ as the police were allowed into their home by Letby’s dad. Told by one officer that he ‘knows it’s upsetting’, Letby’s mum said she ‘can’t’ as she continued to cry.After entering Letby’s room, where she was in bed, police informed Letby that she was being arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. Similar to her first arrest, Letby asked if she could say goodbye to her cat before being arrested.Letby then said goodbye to her parents, with her mum saying behind tears "I know you didn’t do that. We know that.”Mum’s response to child’s deathNetflix advertised prior to the documentary’s release that it featured an interview with the mum of one of the babies who Letby killed. Early on in the documentary, she recalled when her child died hours after she gave birth at the Countess of Chester Hospital.“Three weeks before my due date, I woke up and my water had broken. This was it, it was happening. At the hospital, I got checked out. A scan confirmed everything was fine. We were ready to meet little Zoe (not the baby's real name which had been changed for legal reasons).“It was not straightforward, I was in labour for 60 hours. I felt something wasn’t right, I insisted I needed a c-section. The doctor lifted Zoe over the sheet but she seemed to be struggling to breathe. She had to be taken to intensive care.“It was hard looking at her in the incubator. I couldn’t take her out, but I was able to hold her hand. She was so fragile, small and precious. I became a mummy. The doctors were telling us she was responding very well and as expected. There were no concerns,” she said.The mum continued: “I was fast asleep when a nurse turned a light on and said ‘you need to come right now’. I asked what’s going on and she said ‘there’s no time, we need to go’. I remember being wheeled down a long corridor thinking ‘what’s going on’. I felt the panic in the room."The doctor was trying everything to keep her heart pumping. He wasn’t giving up, I wanted him to keep fighting. The other doctor put a hand on his shoulder and said ‘you need to stop, you need to let her go’. The doctor was still holding Zoe, but he stopped what he was doing. That was it. It was finished, it was over. My husband and I just broke down, we were just saying ‘what’s just happened, she was ok’. I was so angry, so sad and confused.”College friendOne person featured throughout the documentary is a friend of Letby’s named Maisie, whose identity was digitally anonymised. a fellow nurse who she met when they attended the same University.“I remember the first day of lectures, I walked into this massive lecture room. I didn’t know anyone. I went off and sat on my own, then another girl came over to me. She sat down and said ‘really nice to meet you. My name is Lucy’.“There was something about her smile that put me at ease straight away. After four days of university, we were basically inseparable. We were in lectures together, I’d go over to hers for dinner. She’d come over to mine…“When we went clubbing, we would go out together. If we’d been out for the night, I’d stay at hers or she would stay at mine. We’d go to the cinemas, basically everything we did, we did it together. We had a very quirky sense of humour. It was just always fun,” Maisie said.She added: “Lucy was an only child, her parents basically doted on her. They were so porous of the fact she went to university and she was going to become a nurse. She wanted to learn, she wanted to know everything to make sure she knew what she was doing.”Ignored on work placementAnother one of Maisie’s anecdotes sees her recalling when they got their first placement together at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Maisie said their initial ‘excitement’ when away when they noticed ‘the nurses in Chester were quite cliquey’.“I remember we went to the staff room to have lunch and the nurses who were there were all sat chatting. I remember Lucy trying to join in on the conversation and they just ignored her. There was this kind of feeling, the nurses didn’t want us there, the medical team didn’t want you there.“I started to think some people were actively going out of their way to make things hard for Lucy. There was absolutely nothing I could think that would make them treat her that way. Except for the fact that they didn’t like that she was shy and quiet.”“I knew I didn’ t want to stay at the Countess, but Lucy applied for a job in the neonatal unit. I didn’t entirely understand why she wanted to stay considering the way some of the nurses and some of the consultants behaved,” she said.Letby’s prison letterMaisie’s final big contribution arrives towards the end of the documentary when she shares the letter Letby wrote to her in prison after being found guilty in courtReading a letter Letby sent her, Maisie said: “Maisie, there are no words to describe my situation, knowing that I have your friendship regardless is so important and special to me.“I have my own room and toilet. I’m able to shower each day and go outside for a walk. Getting outside is so important, even if it’s a bit chilly. I miss Tigger and Smudge so much, it’s heartbreaking that they cannot understand why I’m no longer there.“They must think I’m a terrible mummy. Mum and dad are taking good care of them and are no doubt spoiling them. I’m trying to do all that I can to remain strong and positive. I’m determined to get through this. I will not give up.”Letby’s text to work colleaguesOne portion of the documentary sees several police officers talking about Letby sending her colleagues at Countess of Chester Hospital about how she was feeling after a baby lost their life while she was working.Danielle Stoner, a Detective Sergeant with Cheshire Police said: “After Baby Zoe’s [a name given in the documentary to one of Letby’s victims] collapse, Lucy Letby did message colleagues making them aware that she’d sadly passed away and went into detail about the parents’ reaction to it as well."An unnamed detective stated: “Parents are distraught, dad’s screaming, and it was shocking. She felt numb. There was a contradiction there as to somebody who said ‘I can’t recall anything about this’.”Detective Stoner added that she mentioned the texts to ‘aid her recollection of events’ during one of her police interviews, but Letby ‘stuck to the same account that she couldn’t recall any further details’.
