How Lucy Letby’s parents watched their only daughter every day in court and took her on holiday every year – and her mother was so distraught when the nurse was arrested she told police: ‘I did it, take me instead’
Lucy Letby’s parents, John, 77, and Susan, 63, were a constant presence during her trial – attending every day of the ten-month proceedings at Manchester Crown Court.
In fact, they were so determined to hear all the evidence against their daughter that they relocated to Manchester from the cathedral city of Hereford, on the England-Wales border.
A source told the Mail that Letby’s mother was distraught when she was arrested – wailing, crying and even telling police: ‘I did it, take me instead,’ in a desperate bid to protect her.
Retail boss John and Susan, an accounts clerk, raised Letby as an only child in a 1930’s semi-detached home in a cul-de-sac.
Creatures of habit, they still live in the same house – which they bought shortly after their marriage – and holiday in Torquay three times a year, taking Letby with them right up until she was arrested in July 2018.
Nothing suggests Mr and Mrs Letby were anything but loving parents who showered their daughter with love from the moment she was born – five months after they married in July 1989.
Letby’s parents, Susan and John, arrive at Manchester Crown Court on August 17. The couple supported her every day in court. A source told the Mail that Letby’s mother was distraught when her daughter was arrested – wailing and crying, even telling police: ‘I did it, take me instead,’ in a desperate bid to protect her
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Growing up, Letby was a ‘delight’ to her parents – neighbours remembered.
She had a part-time job at WH Smith in the city, and her parents were immensely proud when she became the first in their family to go to university.
When she attained her honours degree they marked her graduation, in December 2011, with an announcement in their local paper, the Hereford Times.
Alongside a picture of her wearing a mortarboard and clutching her degree certificate, they wrote: ‘Letby Lucy BSc Hons in Child Nursing. We are so proud of you after all your hard work. Love Mum and Dad.’
A similar announcement, with an accompanying photograph of Letby as a young child was also placed in the same newspaper to mark her 21st birthday.
But texts Letby exchanged with colleagues hinted she sometimes felt smothered by her mother and father and guilty about moving away. She explained they missed her and hated her living alone.
She appeared to speak or text them every day and described them as ‘suffocating at times.’ She told one doctor friend who was considering moving to New Zealand that she could never do that as it would ‘completely devastate’ them.
‘Find it hard enough being away from me now and it’s only 100miles,’ she said.
In a message to another friend, she wrote: ‘My parents worry massively about everything & anything, hate that I live alone etc.
Nothing suggests Mr and Mrs Letby were anything but loving parents who showered their daughter with love from the moment she was born – five months after they married in July 1989
Letby’s parents marked her graduation by posting a notice in the local newspaper
‘I feel bad because I know it’s really hard for them especially as I’m an only child, and they mean well, just a little suffocating at times and constantly feel guilty.’
The couple relocated to Manchester and attended every day of their daughter’s trial, with Mrs Letby sometimes breaking into tears and appearing anxious during breaks when her daughter was undergoing particularly tough periods of questioning by the prosecution.
Investigators suspect Letby had told them scant detail of the horrific nature of the crimes she was being accused of before it was laid out in front of them in court.
As the guilty verdicts were returned, Mrs Letby broke into a series of anguished sobs which continued even after she had left the court. At one point she cried out: ‘You can’t be serious. This cannot be right’.
Letby will now spend the rest of her life in prison.
The couple relocated to Manchester and attended every day of their daughter’s trial
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