The guard, identified only as Dave, had an up-close experience with Letby after her conviction in two separate trials for the murder of seven infants and the attempted murder of seven others. Describing her demeanour on the first night at Styal Prison following her charge, Dave characterised her as a “very, very strange character”.
Unaware that Letby, originally from Hereford, would be arriving at the facility, Dave received a surprise text message while off-duty, offering him overtime hours.
He agreed to take on the “constant watch” duty and arrived at the Cheshire prison eager to earn additional income. Recounting his experience on the Shaun Attwood podcast, he recalled: “The manager said to me, ‘Oh, you know who it is don’t you? It’s Lucy Letby.'”.
“It was her first night and she has got her whole-life tariff now but it was her first night on remand. She had come from court that day and had been charged.”, reports the Mirror.
Dave went on to describe Letby’s appearance and behaviour during her time in the segregation unit.
He shared his initial impressions: “I turned up, sit down on the segregation and the first thing that sort of hit me, you see her in all these photographs, this normal looking blonde woman, and I was surprised at how sort of dishevelled she looked.
“She didn’t have blonde hair, brown hair, she just looked sort of drained. It was night time, I think she might have asked me what time it was at one point. There might have been a few words exchanged, not much.”
He revealed that Letby, aged 35, who committed her heinous acts within the Countless of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016, was only held in the prison for a few days before being transferred.
Dave also expressed uncertainty about whether other inmates were aware of her presence, suggesting that the female offenders would “not have treated her well” if they knew of her crimes involving infants.
Since receiving 15 whole-life sentences, the former neonatal nurse has been incarcerated at HMP Bronzefield, home to some of Britain’s most dangerous female prisoners.
Last year, Letby failed twice in her attempts to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeals, but since then, ex-health secretary Jeremy Hunt has called for an “urgent re-examination” after experts raised “serious and credible” questions.
He urged the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which probes potential miscarriages of justice, to “speed up their normally painfully slow process”.
Legal representatives for the murderous nurse also assert they possess a report of “fresh” evidence that will establish her innocence.
Meanwhile, Cheshire Constabulary is conducting a review of both fatal and non-fatal collapses of infants at the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women’s Hospital between 2012 to 2016, during the period when Letby was employed as a nurse.