Following a 10-month trial, neonatal nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of another six last week.
The 33-year-old was handed a whole life order, however, refused to come out of her cell for her sentencing, a move that the father of one of the victims called, "The final act of wickedness from a coward."
Now, less than two weeks since the trial ended, internet sleuths are trying to convince us that Lucy Letby is innocent.
An American woman, with no connection to Letby or the hospital, has created a campaign to fund her appeal.
Sarrita Adams claims the nurse's conviction "may represent the greatest miscarriage of justice the UK has ever witnessed" and attacks the medical evidence used in the trial.
"Through fundraising, researching, and legal assistance, we aim to ensure that Lucy Letby can have a fair trial where evidence is reliable," Adams' campaign states.
"We are currently working to form a group of scientists, lawyers, and activists to aid in the upcoming appeal for Lucy Letby."
The 33-year-old's team has not announced whether they will appeal yet, with successful appeals for full life sentences incredibly rare.
Inspired by true crime podcasts and documentaries, internet sleuths have increasingly got involved in the criminal justice system.
The hashtag #LucyLetbyInnocent exploded on social media during and post-trial, with self-taught detectives comparing the case to Amanda Knox and nurse Lucia de Berk, both of whom were wrongly convicted of murder.
However, jurors found Letby guilty after 10 months of harrowing evidence and lengthy cross-examination.
According to prosecutors, Letby fatally injected the newborns with insulin, air or milk during her night shifts when the parents weren't present.
The jury was shown a note during the trial in which Letby wrote: "I am evil I did this."
The post-it note was found at her home and also included phrases such as "I don't deserve to live" and "I killed them on purpose because I'm not good enough" scrawled on the paper.
"Hate" is seen written in block capitals with heavy ink and circled, while the note is headed: "Not good enough".
The most recent true crime case that captured public interest like this was Nicola Bulley, the 45-year-old mortgage advisor who was reported missing in January while walking her dog in Lancashire, UK.
During the walk, she logged into a Microsoft Teams call for work, which ended at 9.30am.
A few minutes later, a passerby came across her phone sitting on a park bench beside a riverbank. Nicola was nowhere to be seen.
What happened in those minutes was questioned for months by social media detectives and conspiracy theorists.
Nicola’s long-time partner and the father of her two children, Paul Ansell, even had to fight off cruel accusations about his involvement.
After a two-day inquest in June, a coroner ruled Nicola's death accidental.
Read more: Nicola Bulley ‘vanished’ while on a work call. Her cause of death has just been revealed.
Since Letby's conviction the week before last, Reddit has been littered with commentary about the case, discussing motive, the evidence and the trial.
When issuing his sentencing remarks as if Letby was in the room, Justice Goss told the court: "You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies and in gross breach of the trust that all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions.
"The babies you harmed were born prematurely and some were at risk of not surviving but in each case you deliberately harmed them, intending to kill them."
Read more:
- Lucy Letby murdered 7 babies. There are also the ones who survived.
- Lucy Letby murdered 7 babies. Her family and friends refuse to believe she did it.
- How a 25-year-old nurse became one of the UK's worst serial killers.
- Nurse Lucy Letby murdered 7 babies. She wrote a sympathy card to one of their parents.
Feature image: Cheshire Constabulary.
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