'Ten chances' to stop Letby and 'How many more?'

By BBC News
Staff

Lucy Letby's conviction for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six more in her care on a neonatal ward leads nearly all the front pages. Juxtaposing a picture of the smiling nurse at work holding a newborn baby with Letby's expressionless police mugshot, the Daily Mirror's front page asks: "How many more?".

The Times reports the government will launch an independent inquiry into how a "cold, calculating killer" was able to harm the vulnerable children in her care at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. The paper notes Letby was cleared of two attempted murders, while the jury were unable to reach a verdict on six other attempted murder charges.

The Daily Mail's headline highlights what it says were 10 missed opportunities to stop Letby, branding her "Britain's worst child killer". The paper reports hospital bosses face an inquiry into their "failure to act on a string of warnings" and police are reviewing the care of up to 4,000 babies in the hospital.

The hospital ignored warnings about Letby as far back as October 2015, when doctors told hospital managers she was dangerous, the Daily Telegraph says. A front page commentary from columnist Allison Pearson says "Letby case is a betrayal of all we hold dear: innocence, motherhood and trust".

The Daily Express headline also says some of the babies lives "should have been saved" if warnings about Letby had been listened to. The paper reports that instead senior doctors were made to apologise to the nurse, who murdered some of her newborn victims by injecting them with air and insulin, or overfeeding them.

Letby preyed on highly vulnerable babies and often attacked "moments after their parents or nurses had left their side", the Guardian reports. Police were "finally contacted" about suspicions about her in 2017 and she was arrested a year later, the paper says.

The i weekend 's story notes that inspectors visited the neonatal ward at the time Letby was killing children and rated it "good". The parents of the child victims have called the killer a "hateful human being" who took everything from them, the paper reports.

The FT Weekend leads with its report that Japanese investment firm Softbank has taken full control of UK microchip designer Arm. And the day before the women's World Cup final, it reports the "backlash" against Fifa president Gianni Infantino's comments that women should "pick the right battles" in their fight for equality.

And with England's women contesting that final at 11am on Sunday, the Daily Star has turned to its predictive asparagus psychic to predict the outcome - and it is that the Lionesses will beat Spain on penalties. The paper's "100% infallible asparamancer" also reckons it will be a "nerve-wracking" experience.