Lucy Letby used a secret code in her diary that police found in her bedroom, to seemingly track her killings.
The killer nurse was given a whole life order for murdering six babies and trying to kill seven others between June 2015 and 2016 as she worked as a neonatal nurse at Countess of Chester Hospital.
Something that investigating officers said was important in their enquiries was the extensive diaries that the 33-year-old kept.
She “was a copious writer of notes” and even went as far to use a secret code to seemingly keep track of the killings. Across the diaries, scraps of papers and post-it notes, investigators got perhaps the best insight into her mind as they ever will.
But amongst the childlike illustrations of animals, and hastily scribbled notes, were a series of colour-coded asterixis. Officers believe these refer to “significant events” and the dates marked include June 23 and 24 – the first is when she murdered Baby O – one of three triplets. The second is the day she fatally attacked his brother, Baby P – leaving one surviving triplet.
But amongst the childlike illustrations of animals, and hastily scribbled notes, were a series of colour-coded asterixis. Officers believe these refer to “significant events” and the dates marked include June 23 and 24 – the first is when she murdered Baby O – one of three triplets. The second is the day she fatally attacked his brother, Baby P – leaving one surviving triplet.
Then, on April 9, towards the end of her sick killing spree, she has ‘LO’ marked. On this day she attempted to murder twin babies Baby L and Baby M. Speaking in a documentary made by Cheshire Constabulary, Detective Inspector Rob Woods added: “The amount of material we found at her home address was, I think, a massive surprise to us when she was first arrested.
“But it gave us a really good steer on the second occasion as to what sort of things we were looking for. Something that’s been very useful to the enquiry has been Ms Letby’s diaries … it was almost a code of coloured asterixis and various other things put in a diary that marked significant events.”
