The evidence seen during Lucy Letby's murder trial, from handwritten notes to cards for parents

The lengthy trial of the UK's most notorious child killer featured an enormous amount of detail, with the prosecution using handwritten notes, documents and even a sympathy card penned by Letby as evidence of her sinister presence on the Countess of Chester neonatal unit.

Live news reporter @katiejnwilliams

Tuesday 22 August 2023 11:20, UK

Thousands of pieces of evidence were gathered for the trial against Lucy Letby, detailing her "cruel, calculated and cynical campaign" of murder and attempted murder of babies at the Countess of Chester hospital.

A police search of her home following her first arrest in 2018 uncovered evidence of her "sadistic" crimes, including handwritten notes and hospital documents.

'I am evil'

One, a green Post-It note found inside a 2016 diary, contained what appeared to look like a confession: "I AM EVIL I DID THIS."

On the same note, Letby wrote: "I killed them on purpose because I'm not good enough." Her defence barrister said the note was written by an "anguished woman in despair" at being linked to babies' collapses and deaths.

That wasn't the only note revealing Letby's frame of mind before her arrest.

On a separate note featuring similar small writing scrawled across every inch of space on the page, the killer nurse wrote: "I'm sorry that you couldn't have a chance at life," and "help" in capital letters.

And in another, she said 'I don't want to do this anymore.'

The prosecution said notes found in Lucy's bedroom amounted to confessions of guilt, rather than the outpourings of a woman in "distress".

Medical documents hidden in bags

Officers raiding Letby's bedroom also found some 257 confidential hospital documents, including handover and resuscitation sheets and blood gas readings, hidden away in bags.

Some related to the babies she had been found guilty of hurting or killing. Letby repeatedly said on the witness stand that she simply liked to "collect paper" or had forgotten to remove the documents from her uniform before heading home.

The former neonatal nurse said she couldn't destroy the confidential notes - though jurors were told a paper shredder had been found at Letby's home.

Inside Letby's bedroom

Letby cried during the trial as images of her bedroom after the police raid were shown to the court. Later in her questioning, she was asked by the prosecution why she had only cried for herself while giving evidence - Letby denied this was the case.

Read more:Inside the minds of medical serial killersMore families told their children could be victimsInside court and the trial of a baby killer

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'Sorry I cannot be there'

Separate searches of Letby's phone found she had sent a sympathy card to the parents of a baby she killed - Child I, who died in October 2015. She photographed the card hours before the victim's funeral. The card read: "Thinking of you today and always - sorry I cannot be there to say goodbye."

She signed off the card: "Lots of love, Lucy."

Handing Letby a whole-life sentence, judge Mr Justice Goss said the former nurse kept hospital documents relating to many of her victims as "morbid records of the dreadful events surrounding the collapses of [her] victims and what [she] had done to them".

He said Letby had a "fascination" with the babies and their families, noting repeated searches Letby made on Facebook for the names of her victim's parents.

After a 10 month trial and around 110 hours of jury deliberations, the 33-year-old was convicted of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six more. She will never be released from prison.