There has been a furious backlash as serial baby killer Lucy Letby was moved to a cushy private cell with an ensuite bathroom and TV.
The former nurse who exploited her position to kill newborn babies over a period stretching nearly a year was jailed this year for life. The 33-year-old worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital, in the neonatal unit, when she went on her killing spree, joining a list of the UK’s most twisted child killers.
Letby, from Hereford, stood trial after being accused of deliberately harming the infants in various ways, including by injecting air intravenously and administering air and/or milk into the stomach via nasogastric tubes. She also added insulin as a poison to intravenous feeds, interfered with breathing tubes, and inflicted trauma in some cases.
She was jailed for life but refused to show up for her own sentencing in a "cowardly" act. But in prison she's reportedly recently been moved from the tough Low Newton jail in Co Durham to HMP Bronzefield, near Ashford Surrey.
In her new digs, her treatment has left other inmates furious. The Sun reports that she has an ensuite shower, desk, phone and a telly to herself. A source was reported as saying: "Letby seems happy as Larry. She is in a nice cell and on her own. The facilities at Bronzefield are much nicer than most jails, because it’s privately run.
"She is with prisoners who have earned more rights to watch TV, spend their cash and have visits. It is a disgrace and it’s no wonder she’s been looking so happy. She seems to be being treated with kid gloves because of who she is."
Before her reported move, Letby was imprisoned with some of the most dangerous female criminals in the UK, serving out her life sentence for her horrific killings. The twisted killer faces a re-trial for one count of attempted murder of a newborn baby girl. Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies, and trying to kill six more between 2015 and 2016. She became only the fourth woman in the history of the UK to receive a whole-life order.
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. More than a dozen relatives of Letby's victims sat in the public gallery for the hearing where her sentence was passed and eight jurors returned to see the sentencing. But the murdering nurse's parents, who were present throughout the trial, were absent as their daughter was sentenced.
HMP Bronzefield have been approached for comment.