EXCLUSIVE: ‘I will never believe Lucy Letby is guilty’: Childhood friend maintains nurse is innocent as video emerges of pair on ‘Night of Terror’ – almost six years to the day murderer tried to kill baby girl three times
- Schoolfriend Dawn Howe refuses to accept Letby’s guilt and still has video
A childhood friend of Lucy Letby has insisted she still stands by the killer nurse – as video emerged of them on a ‘night of terror’ during their teenage years.
The footage was captured almost seven years to the day the killer medic tried to murder a set of twins.
Letby, 33, is Britain’s most prolific child killer and was yesterday sentenced to an unprecedented 14 whole life orders – meaning she will die in prison.
A judge said she had displayed ‘malevolence bordering on sadism’ following a ‘cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder’.
But despite 10 months of damning evidence against Letby being aired in one of Britain’s longest ever trials, her schoolfriend Dawn Howe refuses to accept her guilt.
Asked yesterday if she still stood by her comments that she would ‘never believe Lucy is guilty’, Ms Howe said: ‘I stand by that statement.’
She is still tagged in two videos of a 2009 drunken night out with Letby and friends on social media that is christened the ‘Night of terror’.
The footage was captured on September 3, 2009. Six years later, on September 7, 2015, Letby tried to murder a baby boy.
Despite Lucy Letby being found guilty by a jury following a 10-month trial, friend Dawn Howe still insists she is innocent
Letby, Ms Howe and a group of friends are crouched around a swimming pool with two of them sticking their heads through inflatable rings
It shows the killer nurse holding up Dawn as they stagger down the street.
Photographs posted of when they were teenagers, which have still not been taken down despite Letby’s horrific crimes, also show Ms Howe and her close friend Letby enjoying life in Hereford, where both grew up.
In one picture, the two are wearing helmets and waterproof tops as they prepare to set off an exhilarating adventure with fellow school friends.
One friend, who still has the image on her Facebook from 2007 posts: ‘Fetching outfits.’
In another image, Letby, Ms Howe and a group of friends are crouched around a swimming pool with two of them sticking their heads through inflatable rings. The picture is accompanied by the comment: ‘Swimming pool. Check out the cool goggles.’
Ms Howe and her close friend Letby enjoying life in Hereford, where both grew up as teens
Letby pulls a face on the ‘Night of Terror’ in a photograph taken by one of her teenage friends years ago
Letby and her friend beam in this candid picture which appeared to show them abseiling
Other images show the pair with friends in 2007 accompanied by the comment: ‘The girls.’
Another shows Letby on a sofa surrounded by friends while playfully sticking her fingers up with a joyous, nonchalant expression on her face following a night accompanied by the comment: ‘Posing.’
READ MORE – Inside the house where child killer Letby was first arrested
The pictures of Letby, Ms Howe and other friends show the happy, carefree life the former nurse enjoyed and the strong bonds they developed.
Ms Howe has known Letby since they attended Aylestone Secondary School in Hereford together.
In an interview with BBC Panorama on Friday, she claimed all of Letby’s friends were still supporting her despite the killer nurse being convicted for murdering seven babies and trying to kill six more.
She said: ‘Unless Lucy turned around and said I’m guilty I will never believe that she’s guilty.’
‘We know she couldn’t have done anything that she’s accused of, so without a doubt we stand by her.
‘I grew up with Lucy and not a single thing that I’ve ever seen or witnessed of Lucy would let me for a moment believe she is capable of the thing’s she’s accused of.
Letby, 33, is Britain’s most prolific child killer and was yesterday sentenced to an unprecedented 14 whole life orders – meaning she will die in prison. She’s pictured on a night out (left) and in a custody photo (right)
‘It is the most out of character accusation that you could ever put against Lucy. Think of your most kind gentle soft friend and think that they’re being accused of harming babies.’
Ms Howe told BBC journalist Judith Moritz that Letby had always wanted to be a nurse and had had a difficult birth herself.
She said it was the only career her friend had ever mentioned, adding: She was very grateful to be alive to the nurses who helped save her life.’
She also accused police of ‘trying to build a case, to find someone culpable to find someone to blame’ as she maintained Letby’s innocence.
The serial killer was described as appearing shy and reserved, but would ‘let her hair down’ and be ‘goofy’ and ‘bubbly’ when around close friends – who she told not to come to court to support her.
Yesterday, cowardly Letby was given a whole life order for the seven charges of murder and seven of attempted murder that she was convicted of – meaning she received a total of 14.
The NHS nurse is the fourth woman to receive a whole life order after Myra Hindley, Rose West and triple killer Joanna Dennehy.
The killer refused to come up from the cells to hear her fate, a move that the father of one victim called ‘the final act of wickedness from a coward’.
Issuing his sentencing remarks as if she was still in the room, Mr Justice Goss said Letby displayed a ‘morbid fascination’ with seriously ill children and inflicted ‘acute pain’ as they desperately fought for life.
Letby posing at the front of a group of women on a hen do just hours before she murdered her first victim
Ms Howe told BBC journalist Judith Moritz that Letby had always wanted to be a nurse and had had a difficult birth herself
He 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.’
The judge said Letby would be provided copies of his remarks and the personal statements of the families of her victims.
He said only Letby knew what had driven her to embark on a ‘cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder’, and noted she had ‘coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing’.
Ms Howe has known Letby since they attended Aylestone Secondary School in Hereford together.
In an interview with BBC Panorama on Friday, she claimed all of Letby’s friends were still supporting her despite the killer nurse being convicted for murdering seven babies and trying to kill six more.
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