Joining the list of the deadliest serial killers in Britain, Lucy Letby has got the entire nation shaken. As we grapple with this reality, we take a keen look at the nation’s six menacing mass murderers.
Lucy Letby, at 33 years old, has sent a shockwave across Britain after murdering seven babies. Letby committed these deadly crimes at the Countess of Chester Hospital where she worked as a nurse. Letby has also been found guilty of the attempted murder of six more babies. Letby’s conviction of murders reminds us of the following serial killers for their inhumane crimes:
1. Beverly Allitt - Year of crime - 1991
Allitt’s case comes the closest to Lucy Letby. Similar to Letby, Allitt murdered three babies, one 11-year-old, attempted murder on three more children and grievously injured six more while working as a nurse at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital in Lincolnshire. Allitt’s way of murdering her victims was through Insulin. Allitt committed these crimes in February and April 1991 for which she received 13 life sentences in May 1993.
2. Harold Shipman - Year of crime - 2000
Harold Shipman’s crimes go beyond the hospital walls. Shipman murdered 15 patients as a working medical professional at Hyde, Greater Manchester in January 2000. Over a period of 23 years, he killed at least 250 people alone in Hyde and in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. He died by hanging himself in the Wakefield prison in 2004.
3. Fred and Rose West - Year of crime - between 1967 and 1987
Between 1967 and 1987, it is believed that The Wests raped, tortured, and murdered innumerable women at their house in Cromwell Street, Gloucester which later came to be known as the “house of horrors”.
In 1995, Rose West was convicted of murdering her eldest daughter and her stepdaughter. Fred was convicted of 12 murders and died by suicide. Rose is serving a life sentence at HMP New Hall, West Yorkshire.
4. Peter Sutcliffe - Year of crime - 1975-1980
Widely known as the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe is labeled as the most notorious killer of the 20th century. Sutcliffe began his killing spree in 1975 but always escaped suspicions by the police. He was held for murdering 13 women across Yorkshire and North-west England and was caught in Sheffield in 1981. Even though Sutcliffe admitted to all his crimes in a 24-hour-long confession session, he denied everything in court. In May 1981, he was finally jailed for 20 life terms at the Old Bailey.
5. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley - Year of crime - 1960s
Ian Brady and his partner Myra Hindley tortured and sexually assaulted children and teenagers and buried their bodies in Saddleworth Moor, in the south Pennines.
All the victims namely, Pauline Reade, Keith Bennett, John Kilbride, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward Evans were below 18 years old when they were abducted.
Ian Brady died in 2017 while Mary Hindley died in prison in 2002.
6. Mary Ann Cotton -Year of crime - late 19th century
Also known as Britain’s first serial killer, Mary Ann Cotton is known to have murdered her stepson, Charles. Ann Cotton also murdered 11 children, 3 husbands, 1 lover, and her mother by poisoning them. She was sentenced to death by hanging at Durham jail in 1873.