Lucy Letby will spend the rest of her life in prison as a ‘target’, a former prison officer has claimed.
The former nurse was told she would die behind bars after being given an additional life sentence for the attempted murder of a baby girl earlier this month. Letby, 34, was found guilty at Manchester Crown Court of assaulting the newborn baby while working the night shift at Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit in February 2016.
Last August, he was convicted in the same court of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others, as well as two attempted murders of a child. He has already been sentenced to 14 full life sentences for each of the offences he committed in the unit between June 2015 and June 2016.
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Retired prison governor Vanessa Frake spoke to the Mirror about Letby’s situation behind bars, saying it would be just as dangerous as it was when he was first jailed in August 2023. Vanessa, who spent nearly three decades in prison monitoring the likes of child murderer Beverley Allitt, Moors murderer Myra Hindley and serial killer Rose West, said she expected the former nurse to still be on suicide watch.
He is likely to be constantly monitored by officers and targeted by inmates, he said. He told the Mirror: “I think his regime will be the same after his last conviction – he will probably still be on suicide watch, away from the general population of the prison, with other like-minded inmates.
“Anything Letby wants to do in terms of training or leaving the wing will be subject to risk assessment and all visitors will be vetted. They will undoubtedly keep an eye on him.”
Letby is believed to be currently locked up at the privately run HMP Bronzefield in Surrey after spending time at HMP Low Newton in Durham. But wherever he serves his sentence as a Category A prisoner, Vanessa predicts there will be violent attempts on Letby’s life by other inmates.
“There are people like serial killer Joanna Dennehy who are behind bars who kill for fun. She wouldn’t hesitate to pick on Lucy Letby or anyone else,” he said.
“Women who have children, who are carers and nurturers, will see the likes of Letby as less than substandard. You can be sure they know he’s in prison – they may not know where he is, but they will have read the papers and seen him on TV and they will know exactly what he’s like. It will be the job of the staff to protect him from that.”
Vanessa said of Letby’s future fate: “I think he’ll be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life.” During his time in Bronzefield, Letby reportedly formed a chilling bond with two dangerous inmates – baby poisoner Michelle Smith and Shauna Hoare, who played a part in the tragic murder of schoolgirl Becky Watts in 2015.
Vanessa said the close friendship was not unusual and was unlikely to be the last. She explained: “It is very common for like-minded prisoners, such as child murderers, to form friendships with each other.
“I’ve seen it many times. They feel an attraction to each other.”
But while Letby is expected to make friends behind bars, he will also be the target of attacks. “Prisoners are very good at making weapons out of pretty much anything,” Vanessa said.
“Worse than boiling water is boiling sugar water (known as prison napalm) because it sticks to the skin and is very difficult to peel off. I have seen prisoners slashed with two razor blades melted onto a toothbrush, stabbed with handles made from plastic cutlery and snooker balls and batteries from socks.”
Vanessa, who has a 27-year prison career and is head of security and operations at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, explained that prisoners with the most power will control the prisoners on their own ward and bargain for the use of mobile phones or bodyguards. “Those who provide bodyguards create the price.
“When they could smoke in prison, they would name the price of whatever they wanted and what it included — whether it was a half-ounce of tobacco or a Mars bar,” he said.
Vanessa explained that the number of staff working to manage the same number of prisoners has been halved, but it is still ‘as safe as it can be’. ‘There is a lot of violence in prisons today because we have a very violent society,’ she said.
“There seems to be a lot of stabbings, guns, shootings and gangs – and that has spilled over into the prison. If you have those people on the outside and they get arrested, you’ll have that violence on the inside,” he said, explaining that violence around Letby would inevitably occur.
As Letby nears the end of his sentence, he could be moved to a prison for older prisoners and will not be required to work until he turns 66. Vanessa explained: “In prison, you have to work until you reach statutory retirement age, then you don’t have to work anymore.”
The former neonatal nurse’s life sentence means she will die behind bars and her death will not be marked prominently by the prison service. “If Letby’s parents are still alive when he dies, they will have a say in his funeral,” Vanessa said.
“But it wouldn’t be a big deal because the prison service wouldn’t want it. Everyone who dies in prison, whether it’s from natural causes or suicide, is autopsied.
“The coroner will then release the body to the family.” His father, John, now 73, and mother, Susan, 63, or relatives will decide what arrangements will be made.
Until then, Letby will have to review his crimes every year of his life. “As a life sentence prisoner, a report will be written about him by a member of staff every six to 12 months.
“They’ll ask him about his incriminating behavior and his crimes,” Vanessa explained. And on the subject of prison officers’ treatment of him, Vanessa said they would be withdrawing judgment and treating anyone with a conviction the same way.
“My job was never to judge. Prisoners are judged by the courts and their peers. If they go to prison with a warrant, that’s good enough for me,” says Vanessa, author of The Governor.
“I’ve never made assumptions about anyone’s innocence. That’s not my job. I’ve seen some detainees go through the appeal process and get released.”
As for Letby, Vanessa believes the convicted serial killer will remain behind bars – and that’s safest for society if he does. With the former neonatal nurse still denying that she ever tried to harm any babies in her care and telling the court that she is ‘not the kind of person who kills babies’, Vanessa sees no hope of redemption.
“Letby was found guilty and is in prison to keep society safe. He will spend the rest of his days in prison and that will provide some relief to the families of his victims. I think they will try to understand why – but until Letby admits his guilt and explains to these families why he did it, I don’t see much redemption there,” Vanessa added.
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