killer of children in the uk in modern times. time and again, she harmed babies in an environment which should have been safe for them and theirfamilies. she's a hateful human being. because what she's done has changed the course of our life forever. letby was first arrested in 2018, but doctors had for years repeatedly raised concerns about her to senior hospital management. one of them said, every time this is happening to me, - that i'm being called in for these catastrophic events, which werel

unexpected and unexplained, lucy letby is there. _ police are now reviewing the admissions of 4,000 babies at hospitals where lucy letby worked. our other main stories tonight... surrey police investigating the death of ten—year—old sara sharif want to question her father, his partner, and her uncle. ijust hope it's going to be an incredible game, and of course i have a very...preference who wants to win. and the lionesses�* head coach, sarina wiegman, talks to the bbc ahead of sunday's world cup final against spain. 0n newsnight at 10.30pm... how did lucy letby cause so many deaths? as the most prolific non—child killer in modern uk history is found guilty of murdering seven babies, we ask why was she not stopped earlier?

hello and welcome to the bbc news at ten. the nurse lucy letby has been found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others when they were in her care at a hospital in cheshire, making the 33—year—old the uk's worst child killer in modern times. in a statement, the families of her victims said they were heartbroken and thatjustice could not reduce the extreme hurt, anger and distress they had experienced. lucy letby was also acquitted of two counts of attempted murder, and the jury were undecided on six charges of attempted murder. today, the government has ordered an independent inquiry into the circumstances around this shocking case. 0ur north of england correspondent judith moritz is here with me. you've been following this case throughout, judith,

and it's only now that the full scale of her crimes has become apparent. yes, ican yes, i can tell you, reeta, that verdicts have been being delivered here at manchester crown court over several hearings over the last ten days. it was only today, when the jury days. it was only today, when the jury indicated they could go no further, that reporting restrictions were lifted and we are able now to report the full extent of what lucy letby has been found guilty of. that was an emotional moment in the court room, here in courtroom number seven, particularly, as you can imagine, for the families of those babies. some of the jurors looked upset this afternoon, but conspicuous by her absence was lucy letby, who refused to come up from the cells. she wasn't in court. it's been fast moving ever since. the prosecution are considering a retrial on the undecided verdict here and there has been the announcement as you say of a government inquiry.

she thought she'd get away with it, but this was the moment the game was up. hello, lucy, is it? my name is...with the cheshire police. do you mind if i step in for two seconds? yes. - thank you. behind the door of this ordinary suburban house, britain's most prolific baby killer was finally arrested, three years after her murder spree began. just take a seat in. there for me, lucy. i'll move that seat forward a bit. i've just had knee surgery. 0h, right, 0k. she worked here, on the neonatal unit at the countess of chester hospital. her role — to care for the most premature and vulnerable infants, but that couldn't have been further from her mind. the crying, i've never heard anything like it since. it was screaming. it was screaming, and i was like, "what's the matter with them?" legally, we can't identify the families in this case, but their stories are distressing. these are the parents of twin boys

born prematurely in 2015. their mum was taking milk to them when she heard one of her sons crying loudly. he had blood round his mouth. and lucy was there, but faffing about and not really...not doing anything. lucy said, don't worry, the registrar was coming. and then she told me to go back to the ward. the baby's mum left him in this intensive care area and went to call her husband. they thought their son was in safe hands with nurse letby, but a short time later, they were told he was dangerously ill and they rushed back to find doctors trying to save him. we were taken in, and we were told to talk to him and hold his hand. and then... ..we had a conversation with the consultant, and he said, "you know what,

we're going to stop. it's not helping. we want him to die in your arms." 0n the unit, there were typically up to three deaths a year, but in 2015, they had that number in the month ofjune alone. and the pattern continued, with babies dying or coming close to death. the common factor — lucy letby. this staffing sheet shows she was the only employee who was present every time there was a suspicious event. dr stephen brearey led the team of seven consultants on the unit who shared joint concerns about letby. he's now speaking publicly about their experience for the first time. it's something that nobody really wants to consider, you know, that a member of staff might be harming the babies under your care. things came to a head when two out

of three healthy triplets died within 2a hours of each other injune 2016. afterwards, a meeting was held for staff. lucy letby was there. she was sitting next to me. i spoke to her and said how tired and upset she must be after two days of this, and i hoped that she was going to have a restful weekend. and she turned to me and said, "no, i'm back on shift tomorrow." the other staff were very traumatised by all of this. we were crumbling before your eyes, almost, and she was quite happy and confident to come into work. lucy letby was eventually moved to a clerical role. the doctors kept trying to get managers to investigate the suspicious deaths and her connection to them. but we can now reveal that even though consultants here repeatedly made loud warnings to senior management, they say they were ignored

and ultimately told that if they didn't stop raising questions about the nurse, there'd be consequences. and the doctors say that even after lucy letby came off duty on the neonatal unit, executives tried to draw a line under the case, and it was only a year after she stopped working as a nurse that the police became involved. after her arrest, officers found all sorts of items in her bedroom — babies�* medical records, her diary and notes covered in letby�*s scrawl, with phrases including, "i am evil. i did this." she is a killer, and using her words, she is evil. _ you've spent time interviewing her and watching her in court, as well, giving evidence. yes. what do you make of her? i think she's very emotionless. she doesn't respond to a typical human response that _ i would've expected. did you have concerns that there was a rise in the mortality rate?

yes. there was no empathy or sympathy with what's gone on at all. - i mean, there are people who look at her and say there's no way she can have done this. it's circumstantial evidence. she looks as though butter wouldn't melt. it's an example to us all of not judging a book by its cover. i we've got to accept, you know, and understand the evidence i in this case has been, i believe, significant,| and it has taken us to understand that lucy letby is a killer. - as the trial ended today, letby refused to come into the courtroom. prosecutors later reflecting on the scale of her deceit. in her hands, innocuous substances like air, milk or medication like insulin would become lethal. she perverted her learning and weaponised her craft to inflict harm, grief and death. the nurse even wrote this sympathy

card to the parents of one baby and searched for many of the other families on facebook, checking up on them voyeuristically months and even years after attacking their children. i want her to be locked up. i don't ever want her to come out again. because what she's done has changed the course of our life forever. lucy letby had many faces — party girl, graduate, bright young nurse, but each face was a mask for evil hiding in plain sight, and at last her cover has slipped. lucy letby will now be known as one of britain's most notorious criminals. judith moritz, bbc news, manchester. lucy letby has today been convicted of seven murders, but the bbc has learned there were actually 13 deaths on the neonatal unit where she worked in a one—year period. that's five times the usual rate — and the nurse was on

duty for all of them. asjudith was reporting there, doctors on the unit were raising concerns for months about letby, but senior managers ignored their warnings and protected her. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan has this exclusive report. this is the story of an nhs trust that didn't properly investigate why 13 babies died unexpectedly in a one—year period. instead, it turned against the very people who wanted the police to examine the deaths. there is only one serial killer of babies that's worked in that organisation, and the executive team were not the people who were responsible for the deaths of those babies. but they had some opportunities to get to the bottom of what was happening. susan gilbyjoined the countess of chester nhs trust as medical director a month after lucy letby was arrested. within two months, she was made

chief executive, a post she held until last december. through documents and speaking to staff, she learned what the trust knew about the serial killer. the first three babies died injune 2015. the executive team held a meeting at which it was agreed that an external investigation into the deaths would be held. it never happened. by october, with seven babies now dead, a staff analysis of the incidents made a link between all the deaths and lucy letby being on shift, but it was still seen as coincidental. in february 2016, with ten babies now dead, the director of nursing, alison kelly, and ian harvey, the medical director, were asked for an urgent meeting to discuss the deaths and lucy letby�*s links to all of them. they didn't respond for three months. the paediatricians were discussing, you know, the terrible nights on call that they were having. one of them said, "every time i'm...you know, this is happening to me, that i'm being called

in for these catastrophic events which were unexpected and unexplained, lucy letby is there," and then somebody else said, "yes, ifound that." and then someone else had the same response. and they all realised that the common factor for each of them was letby�*s presence on the unit. injune 2016, two babies died on consecutive days. 13 children had now died. lucy letby was on shift for all of them. the day after the second death, the nurse was due back on the unit. paediatrician steve brearey rang the duty manager asking for letby to be replaced. the manager refused. i challenged her. i said, "well, are you saying that you're making this decision against the wishes of seven consultant paediatricians?" and she said, "yes." and i said, "well, if you're making this decision, are you taking responsibility for anything that might happen tomorrow to any

other of our babies?" and she said, "yes." letby went to work, and a baby unexpectedly collapsed. we were urging them to investigate our concerns appropriately, and most of us felt the most appropriate way to do that would be to go to the police. the response from the medical director was unsupportive. in an e—mail to the paediatricians obtained by panorama, ian harvey wrote, "action is being taken. all e—mails cease forthwith." the police were not called. instead, in september 2016, the royal college of paediatrics and child health was asked to carry out a review of the neonatal unit. it urged the trust to investigate each death individually. this didn't happen. around this time, lucy letby launched a grievance procedure against the paediatricians. the internal process concluded that she'd been discriminated against and victimised by the doctors on the unit.

with the paediatricians wanting a police investigation, injanuary 2017, an extraordinary board meeting was held. the medical director, ian harvey, gave a verbal report. he said external reviews had not highlighted any individual as being linked to the deaths and that the trust was ready to draw a line under the issues. the chief executive, tony chambers, said he'd met lucy letby and her parents to apologise for what had happened. a statement written by letby was read out detailing how hard the past few months had been for her. the meeting decided lucy letby would return to the neonatal unit after the paediatricians had written a letter apologising to her. this is the letter they sent lucy letby, signed by all seven paediatric consultants in the unit. against their wishes, they apologised for any inappropriate comments that may have been made, going on to say, "we are very sorry for the stress and upset that you have experienced in the last year."

though the paediatricians feared being reported to the regulator, they kept going, pressurising executives to call the police, something the trust eventually did in may 2017. the reputation of the organisation and protecting that reputation was a big factor in how people responded to the concerns raised. they were dragged kicking and screaming, the executive team, to call in the police. that would certainly be the conclusion that i would reach. at the time letby was arrested in july 2018, she was still working at the trust. no disciplinary action had been taken against her. the strong opinion was that there would be nothing found. there was a brief overlap of three or four days between myself and the outgoing medical director, and his parting words to me, to my surprise, were, "you need to refer the paediatricians to the gmc." the former medical director denies threatening to report the doctors to the general medical council for misconduct.

in a statement, tony chambers, the former chief executive, said... the former medical director, ian harvey, said... both men say they'd co—operate with the upcoming inquiry. michael buchanan, bbc news, cheshire. the families affected have sat in this court room behind me month after month, and the parents of twin brothers who were among lucy letby�*s 13 victims say she should spend the rest of her life behind bars.

baby e, the fourth of seven babies murdered by the nurse was killed by an injection of air into his bloodstream. within 2a hours, letby tried to kill his brother, baby f, with insulin. medics were able to save him but his parents say he's been left with complex needs. judith moritz has spoken to them. in the corridor, i could immediately hear crying. it was... it felt more than crying. it was screaming. it was screaming, and i was like, what... ..what�*s the matter with them? i walked into the room. i seen her with my boy, and he had blood round his mouth, and lucy was there, but faffing about. you know when it feels like somebody wants to look busy but they're not actually doing anything? what did lucy letby say to you? lucy said, "now, don't worry." she has this really calm

demeanour about her. and she's, you know, very, very softly spoken. and don't worry, the registrar was coming, she'd already contacted him, he was on his way, and she told me to go back to the ward. i was trying to reassure my wife that, listen, these people are experts and, you know, if they say there's not a problem, you've got nothing to worry about. that was the first phone call. quickly followed up by a second phone call with a midwife, saying, "you need to get here now." and there was a third phone call telling me, "where are you? the priest has been called." and ijust knew. i knew at that point. you know, you don't call a priest unless someone's dying. what could you see? we were taken in. and we were told to talk to him and hold his hand. he was christened.

the consultant said, "you know what? we're going to stop. we want him to die in your arms...rather than being worked on." so we said, "ok." and they passed him to us. and he died. can you just talk me through what happened in the aftermath of losing your first child? how was your other son doing? one of the nurses said, you know, "he's not...he�*s not well. his heart rate is really, really high." what was your first thought? "it's happening again." i thought it was happening again. and i said to my husband, "please, not again. we can't do this again. this can't be happening." it's almost bang on 2a hours since our other son had died.

so i went and... ..i sat with him all night. his heart rate was absolutely through the roof. you know, it didn't come down, and i wasjust, like, just come down, you know. and i'm almost trying to will the machine, you know... "bring his heart rate down, bring his heart rate down. make it ok." and did he recover easily? he's got severe learning difficulties. he's got a lot of complex needs. is it your belief that that's connected... yes. ..to what happened? yes. directly as a consequence? there's a consequence, and he's living with it. what do you think when you go into court and you look at lucy letby? i think she's a hateful human being.

she's taken everything from us. absolutely everything. it'sjust beyond your imagination that somebody's on a ward, killing babies. it's unbelievable. because what she's done... ..has changed the course of our life forever. you were one of the onlyjournalists to be sitting in the court room, watching it all, watching letby. what was it like? yes, just a small number allowed into the courtroom itself. 0ur seats were three or four metres away from lucy letby�*s seat, just through the glass wall of the dock. i spent months watching her. harrowing, is the answer. never mind me, imagine those parents. i was always aware thatjust next those parents. i was always aware that just next to those parents. i was always aware thatjust next to me where the parents of those babies that had to listen to here as well. some of them gave evidence. they had to

experience being cross—examined by her defence team. ifound experience being cross—examined by her defence team. i found the time that lucy letby gave evidence herself the most chilling, when she went into the witness box. she tied herself in knots. there is no doubt about that. the jury had found her out. about that. the “ury had found her out. �* , , ., ., out. and this is not the end of the matter? it's _ out. and this is not the end of the matter? it's not. _ out. and this is not the end of the matter? it's not. she'll— out. and this is not the end of the matter? it's not. she'll be - matter? it's not. she'll be sentenced _ matter? it's not. she'll be sentenced on _ matter? it's not. she'll be sentenced on monday. - matter? it's not. she'll be i sentenced on monday. she's matter? it's not. she'll be _ sentenced on monday. she's already indicated through her lawyers that she won't appear. but the families of the babies will have their moment, their opportunity to read statements about their experience to the court. as well as that, we understand the police are looking at the range of possible offences, further offences, that she could be held responsible for, back to when she first qualified after being a student in 2012. the prosecution are considering whether they may ask for a retrial on the verdicts which the jury a retrial on the verdicts which the jury were undecided on, if you more verdicts that they could not decide on. and today we've had the announcement by the government of a

non—statutory public inquiry. and that will look at some of the detail, i think, that will look at some of the detail, ithink, that that will look at some of the detail, i think, that we have reported tonight, to do with the nhs, how the hospital handled the consultant�* worries and concerns, and how they were dealt with. judith, thank you very much. judith moritz, our correspondent who has followed the story throughout. you can watch a special panorama programme on this case — it�*s available now on the bbc iplayer. it�*s called lucy letby: the nurse who killed. and if you�*ve been affected by any of the issues that have been raised by our reports, do go to our website bbc.co.uk/actionline, and you�*ll find lots of useful information and support there. after a ten—month trial, the longest murder trial in uk history, lucy letby has finally been convicted of a series of unimaginable crimes against the most defenceless of victims. the word "evil" has been used to describe her today. but the system that allowed her to go on killing is tonight under intense scrutiny too.

that�*s all from us here, now back to you, clive. and go it, thank you for that, thanks to our teams, led byjudith moritz, covering a dreadful story of the last few weeks. police investigating the death of a ten—year—old girl in surrey, say they want to question her father, his partner and her uncle. sara sharif�*s body was found at a house in woking last week, but the three people detectives want to speak to, flew to pakistan, the day before sara�*s body was discovered. here�*s helena wilkinson. this is ten—year—old sara sharif. last thursday, she was found dead in her home in woking with multiple and extensive injuries, likely to have been caused over a sustained period of time. tonight, a global search is under way for her father, urfan sharif, his partner beinash batool, and also her uncle, faisal malik.

police have named them as the three they want to speak to in connection with their murder inquiry. it is believed urfan travelled to islamabad in pakistan, in company with his partner and his brother, on wednesday, the 9th of august. there were five children with them, aged between a year and 13 years old. it was shortly after sara�*s father arrived in islamabad that he called the emergency services in the uk. it was that call which led police to this house in woking, where they found sara�*s body. no—one else was at the property at the time. a post—mortem examination on tuesday couldn�*t establish how sara died. police now want to speak to anyone who knew ten—year—old sara, so they can build up a picture of her young life. helena wilkinson, bbc news, woking in surrey.

there is no formal extradition treaty, between the uk and pakistan, but there have been forced returns before. let�*s speak to our correspondent, caroline davies, who�*s in islamabad. caroline, what are you hearing from your end about what is going on here? ., , ,., 4' your end about what is going on here? ., , ,., ~ ., here? so, clive, we have spoken to the olice here? so, clive, we have spoken to the police here _ here? so, clive, we have spoken to the police here in _ here? so, clive, we have spoken to the police here in pakistan, - here? so, clive, we have spoken to the police here in pakistan, who - the police here in pakistan, who have said through the federal investigation agency that they have been asked to start trying to find urfan sharif, sara�*s father. it is just to locate him, not to arrest him. we understand multiple police stations are currently trying to find him. we understand they have visited his family�*s homes as well. but so far, we have been told that they have not been able to locate him. as you mentioned, about extradition, the police in the uk have been incredibly clear, the moment theyjust want have been incredibly clear, the moment they just want to speak to these individuals to ask them

questions. but this is a complicated situation. assuming all of these individuals have the right to remain here in pakistan, the only way to be able to get the back to the uk without them doing it voluntarily is most likely through a form of extradition. in order to do that, there needs to be enough evidence built up to be able to convince not just the courts in the uk, but the courts here in pakistan as well, that there is a case to answer. as you say, there is no formal extradition treaty between pakistan and the uk. speaking to police here, who are very familiar with these matters and have dealt with these cases before, they say this often does take years to be able to do. we are very far away from the point at the moment. as i say, the police

have said theyjust the moment. as i say, the police have said they just want to the moment. as i say, the police have said theyjust want to speak have said they just want to speak to these three individuals. but this is a delicate international situation. indeed. caroline, thank you. caroline davies in president biden has been holding talks with the leaders ofjapan and south korea, at camp david, just outside washington dc. in a joint statement they accused china of dangerous and aggressive behaviour in the south china sea. the summit has been condemned by beijing, saying the meeting heightened the risk of confrontation. as the biggest match in the history of english women�*s football gets closer, the lionesses�* coach sarina wiegman has been speaking to the bbc. she says sunday�*s world cup final against spain will be a special moment and, whatever the result, she plans to stay in the job. she�*s been talking to dan roan. she�*s the mastermind who�*s propelled the lionesses to the brink of the ultimate prize. sarina wiegman has led a golden era for england, and as she prepared for sunday�*s world cup final, the dutch—born coach told me the significance of this moment. with this team, and with the challenges we had before the tournament, when we were here and how we find a way all the time to to solve problems has been amazing. and the resilience the team showed has been really good.

and i think it�*s very special to be in the final. but now we want to win it, too. despite injuries to key players in the build up and a slow start here in australia, england have reached a first final. so what makes this team so special? i think first of all, talent. second, the eagerness to improve every day and to perform at the highest level. and, also, they support each other really well. and being very, very resilient. remarkably, wiegman�*s reached the final of the last four major tournaments, having coached world cup runners up the netherlands in 2019. and we all know what happened last year. european champions! the fa has said any approaches for wiegman would be rejected and that she could be considered for the england men�*s job in the future. so does she see herself making such a move? i work now in the best environment possible. i�*m very happy in thisjob and in the women�*s game. so, i don�*t have plans to move very quickly.