Nurses were ordered 'to be nice' to UK's most prolific baby killer Lucy Letby

Lucy Letby was removed from the neonatal ward at Countess of Chester Hospital after colleagues, who called her 'angel of death', voiced concerns prior to the police investigation.

An email request from Britain's most prolific child killer, Lucy Letby, to her hospital colleagues before she returned to her ward after being 'fully exonerated' of any wrongdoing before her murder trial has been revealed.

The baby serial killer, who carried out her campaign of terror at Countess of Chester Hospital, had been removed from the neonatal unit back in July 2016 after concerns were raised. Following a series of unexplained fatalities and collapses, consultant paediatricians alerted senior management to the possibility that she was hurting babies, the Mirror reports.

But six months later, when an external review found no evidence of crime and Letby's grievance procedure over her departure was upheld, chief executive Tony Chambers directed consultants to "draw a line under the Lucy issue". According to the Thirlwall Inquiry investigating Letby's murders, he ordered the doctors to apologise to the killer for their insulting remarks after she complained of colleagues dubbing her the "angel of death" and the "murderer on the unit".

Letby called on her fellow nurses to be "sensitive and supportive" on her planned return as she told them she had been "fully exonerated" of any wrongdoing. On January 31, 2017, Letby sent a group email to neonatal nurses in which she wrote: "Dear colleagues, I was redeployed from the unit in July 2016 following serious and distressing allegations of a personal and professional nature made by some members of the medical team.

"From then until now I have been unable to visit or contact the unit whilst these matters were investigated. After a thorough investigation it was established that all the allegations were unfounded and untrue, and therefore I have been fully exonerated. I have received a full apology from the trust.

"As you can imagine this whole episode has been distressing for me and my family. I will begin my return to the unit in the coming weeks. I will need colleagues to be sensitive and supportive at this time. Many thanks, Lucy Letby."

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Nurse Kathryn Percival-Calderbank told the inquiry that she and her colleagues were "a bit stunned" when they read the grovelling email. She said: "We were not informed about anything. We didn't know what these allegations had been so we were a bit stunned by it all really because we were still under the impression she was on secondment."

She said Mr Chambers told them to "be nice to Lucy" on her return. Ms Percival-Calderbank said: "A lot of the staff were taken into a room. It took us by surprise that we had to be nice to Lucy because none of us had ever been horrible to her. That’s not in our nature."

The inquiry heard the consultants persisted with their concerns and Letby’s return to the unit from clerical duties was postponed until hospital bosses eventually called in Cheshire Police in May 2017. Former chief executive of the Countess of Chester, Tony Chambers, stepped down after police launched an inquiry into the baby deaths at the hospital.

The former NHS nurse, 34, became Britain's most prolific child killer in August 2023 when she was convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to kill six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016. In July, Letby was handed her 15th whole-life term for the attempted murder of a premature baby girl.

Following Letby's guilty verdict, Mr Chambers said he was 'deeply saddened' by the baby deaths, adding: "All my thoughts are with the children at the heart of this case and their families and loved ones at this incredibly difficult time. I am truly sorry for what all the families have gone through."

The inquiry, chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall, is expected to sit at Liverpool Town Hall until early next year, with findings published by late autumn 2025.

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