SENIOR Cheshire police officers investigating the crimes of Lucy Letby have revealed there was 'an overwhelming feeling of sadness' when the decision was made to charge her.

Over the past six years, Cheshire Police has been investigating what has become the baby killer nurse case, with 33-year-old Letby this week sentenced to a whole-life order for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six more.

The force launched 'Operation Hummingbird', gathering hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence in preparation for the 10-month trial, and speaking to hundreds of witnesses.

Now, as part of an hour-long video the force has released via its social media channels, senior investigating officers have spoken about the complexity in ensuring they had a strong enough case against the former Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit nurse, and the emotions felt amid the severity and distressing nature of the charges.

Deputy senior investigating officer DCI Nicola Evans, who sat in Manchester Crown Court with victims' families throughout most of the trial, has revealed the atmosphere in the investigation room, when the go-ahead came through from the Crown Prosecution Service to charge Letby in November 2020, was a very sombre one.

She said: "There was actually just an overwhelming feeling of sadness.

"Everybody had worked to that point and almost looked forward to getting to a point where we could tell the families this is what was happening, but actually it was just an overwhelming feeling of sadness. It was a real watershed as to what had happened and that we were going to take this case to trial, and what that meant for the people involved."

Senior investigating officer Det Supt Paul Hughes said: "The charges [that Letby faced] were read out and we didn't know what people would do. Would people clap, cheer, celebrate, cry?

"It was nothing – as in absolute silence. You could have heard a pin drop. Nobody said anything. Some people became emotional, people left the room to spend some time on their own, and it was probably about 10-15 minutes before anybody said anything.

"Instead of it being something to celebrate, it felt like a profound loss. I think it was that realisation, when you heard it in that context, all these babies have been murdered.

"I think there was the realisation of people who have children of their own or seeing their children grow up, what that actually means now, we're saying these children would have all had their lives, had they not been murdered, or damaged, or affected or inflicted by an attempted murder by Lucy Letby."

Letby, originally from Hereford, faced 17 charges initially, then was asked to enter a plea on five more attempted murder charges on the first day of her trial. That meant she was charged, in some cases, of attempting to murder a baby on multiple occasions.

After a 10-month trial, the 11 members of the jury found Letby guilty of all seven murder charges, and seven counts of attempted murder on six more babies. They found her not guilty on two counts and were unable to reach a verdict on the remaining six.

She received a whole-life order for each count.