‘Quiet and shy’: Here’s what Lucy Letby was really like as a student at Chester University

A university friend of Lucy Letby has finally opened up about what the convicted baby killer was like as a student.

In Netflix’s new documentary, The Investigation of Lucy Letby, Maisie remembered meeting Lucy on her first day of nursing lectures at the University of Chester. 

She recalled: “I didn’t know anyone. I went off and sat on my own, then another girl came over to me. She sat down and said ‘really nice to meet you. My name is Lucy’.”

Maisy described being put “at ease straight away” by Lucy’s smile.

However, her account differs from that of an assessor on one of Lucy’s nursing placements, who described her as “cold” and lacking empathy. 

Where did Lucy Letby go to university and what was she like as a student? 

via Netflix

Lucy Letby studied nursing at the University of Chester, graduating in September 2011. She specialised in child nursing, and undertook placements at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

Outside of academic life, Lucy would go out clubbing, go to the cinema or have dinner with fellow nursing student and close friend, Maisy. 

According to Maisy, she and Lucy were “basically inseparable”, even after only knowing each other for four days. 

“We had a very quirky sense of humour. It was just always fun,” she said.

Speaking about Lucy’s nursing studies, Maisy said: “She wanted to learn, she wanted to know everything to make sure she knew what she was doing.”

Lucy Letby failed a university nursing placement for being too “cold”

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via Netflix

According to a public inquiry, Lucy failed a nursing placement during her final year of university, due to her being “cold” and lacking empathy with patients and families. 

Nicola Lightfoot, Lucy’s placement assessor, said she thought Lucy did not have the “overall characteristics” to become a successful nurse.” 

However, the Thirwall Inquiry heard Lucy went on to pass a retrieval placement after requesting a new assessor, on grounds she felt “intimated” by Nicola.

Nicola explained: “I did not find a natural warmth exuding from her which I expect from a children’s nurse.”

She described Lucy as “quiet and shy” and said “she didn’t show good interpersonal skills with children, parents, nurses or the wider team”.

Nicola also recalled overhearing an “inappropriate” comment from Lucy after the death of two triplets in 2016, claiming Lucy told a colleague “You’ll never guess what’s happened” in a tone as if she had witnessed an “exciting event”.

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Featured image via Netflix