Lucy Letby - new thread

[anonymousamy]

No idea why the last one was taken down, but for anyone who wants to continue the discussion on Letby, I’m starting a new thread here.

I’m 100% sure she’s guilty, but I’m still massively struggling to comprehend why on earth she did it.

She was taken off the ward for 6 months or so and killed the day she was stupidly allowed to return

That's a serious compulsion to kill

Apparently she shows signs of not being able to empathise, disconnected, can only assume the criminal psychologist saw signs of her inability to feel joy, sadness, highs and lows from normal events. Psychopathic killers get their highs from killing.

@HappiDaze

Some brass neck. I mean was she that arrogant she thought she wouldn’t get caught? She knew people had suspicions. And she went back to that ward after 6 months and killed a baby on her very first day. Or maybe the thrill was just too exciting she thought it was worth getting caught for. The mind boggles.

There is no cure for psychosis. Treatment in the form of drugs can be used, relying on the patient actually taking the drugs. There is a fair amount of non compliance as they are already ‘flat’ emotionally and drug treatment enhances this.

I hadn’t seen that. Maybe by that point she wanted to be found out? Why else would she do something so stupid?

I don't think people are understanding what a victim impact statement is for

It's got the judge....for victims/families to explain the impact on them

It's not for the defendant

@solonge That is not true. Psychosis is not a diagnosis, it is a symptom of a number of different conditions, some of which are indeed curable (and most of which are treatable to some degree).

PS there has been no suggestion that Letby has experienced psychotic symptoms.

I look way worse on my passport photo than she does in her mugshot. If you saw my passport photo you'd prob say I look like a murderer too!

It’s all horrendous, and even worse when you consider that the police station is less than half a mile away from the hospital. Anyone of those nurses, doctors or staff members could have called crime stoppers anonymously or reported it to the police.

What about duty of candour too, surely the hospital would have been obliged to report this to the hospital trust?

What is this face of a killer nonsense? Everybody looks horrible in passport and official shots. I look like Aileen Wuornos in mine.

I think they have mixed up 'psychosis' with 'psychopathy' - completely different things.

One thing I don't understand is why would the CoC management board even allow Letby's father to get involved in discussions involving her conduct at work? he's not her legal representation and she's over 18, they were under no obligation to talk to him, let alone be brow beaten by him.

If he was her support person then he shouldn't have been advocating either.

So many questions that need to be answered by that management board.

None of it was accidental - remember that one of the consultants was onto her from the beginning because it looked deliberate.

It’s usually in the eyes and I’ve worked in MH forensic services. It’s not the eyes it’s usually the “vacancy” within them. They look at you, but it’s like they’re looking through you and not at you. A media reported noted the exact same thing with Huntley. Obviously your mug shot isn’t going to be flattering and LL didn’t appear to be vacant. By all accounts she was just nice Lucy. She was exceptionally skilled at her mask.

This is far more frightening than the fact LL was a random insane person. It's very hard to predict or prevent that (particularly in this case perhaps) but the fact the system so spectacularly failed to 'catch' it is the real horror.

I know we try yo understand the mins of killers, but unless like her you're a psychopath, you won't understand it.

She's not scared. She CBA. It's beneath her. She's done what she's done, she's satisfied she killed some babies. That's it. Psychopaths have no empathy and no emotions about what they've done. She can plead innocent as much as she likes.

And she's already been sentenced -14 whole life terms.

Well, these days I've seen people theorise that munchausens is sometimes a feature of psychopathy, particularly in women with ASPD.

There is a woman on SM who is apparently diagnosed with ASPD and she talks about what it's like to have her brain. She says that the only thing that stops her from doing terrible things is that she is scared of going to prison. Her explanations of how she has very low anxiety fit together with how LL was presenting at her trial.

I am wondering if there was perhaps Eugenics in Lucy Letby's thinking?

Premature infants are more likely to have a Disability than usual.

Not always (I was a Prem and have Amblyopia; but that is all (not genetic- I am the only member of my extended family with this) but it is more likely. Maybe she had a twisted idea God complex these babies would be better off?

Anyway she is in prison now and will stay there; she will never get out and so she should miss out on a normal life.

Same as those poor babies and their families.

Actually his comment works just fine for me, whether it gives her something she wants or not

With something this hideous it's only natural for us all to ask "But why ...?", and in the end we may never know because we simply can't get that far into someone else's mind

So personally I believe he's right; maybe she knows why she did it, but that's where it may have to stay - and the key point is that she'll never get to endanger anyone else now

I agree. I always remember a friend saying “If I could understand why he did that I’d be worried about myself”. This is a perfect example of that.

For those who might be getting psychosis and psychopathy mixed up…

Psychosis is when people lose some contact with reality. This might involve seeing or hearing things that other people cannot see or hear (hallucinations) and believing things that are not actually true (delusions). It can sometimes be treated with antipsychotic medication, talking therapies and social support.

Psychopathy is a neuropsychiatric disorder marked by deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioral controls, commonly resulting in persistent antisocial deviance and criminal behavior. See https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/antisocial-personality-disorder/

I think that's a great way to look at it.

Majority of people aren't killers, especially not child killers.

Even if she gave a motive, I still think we would ask but why?? Because nothing she could say would ever truly make sense or explain how someone could do something so horrific without severe mental health issues being at play (which she has not been flagged for at present)

Interesting… and chilling.

The journalists presenting the DM podcast say that LL apparently claimed that she had developed PTSD bc of the arrest and hypersensitivity disorder too, and she didn’t like people moving around in the courtroom, and she didn’t want to walk from her place in the courtroom to the witness stand, and the judge allowed her to be in place in the witness stand before everyone filed in, which was apparently a very unusual concession.

At the same time the police said she was very calm during her arrest and interviews with an ability to detach from the emotional side of things. Although as a medic, one could be taught that I suppose?

Obviously this was all a fabrication which spoke to her need for control.

It’s also pretty stupid in terms of heightening the risk of being caught. Very odd.