Everything we know about Lucy Letby’s parents, including their heartbreaking statement in full

The new Netflix documentary The Investigation of Lucy Letby has reignited public interest in one of the UK’s most high-profile criminal cases, offering fresh insights into the former neonatal nurse’s crimes and previously unseen footage of her arrest.

Following two trials, Lucy Letby, now 36, was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder others at the Countess of Chester Hospital. She received multiple whole-life sentences, meaning she will never be released from prison.

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Despite her convictions in 2023 and 2024, Letby has continued to maintain her innocence, a stance strongly supported by her parents, Susan and John Letby, who have publicly defended their only child throughout the investigation, trials and sentencing.

Here’s everything we know about Lucy Letby’s parents, their role during the case, and the full statement they issued.

Who are Susan and John Letby?

Susan and John Letby are the parents of Lucy Letby. The couple reportedly married in the mid-1970s and welcomed their only child in January 1990. They have lived for more than four decades in the same home in a close-knit community in Hereford, England.

During Lucy Letby’s trials, the couple were a constant presence in court. They temporarily relocated to Manchester, renting an apartment in the city centre so they could attend proceedings at Manchester Crown Court. Across the 10-month trial in 2023, they were reportedly present almost every day.

Both parents are now retired, Susan previously worked as an accounts clerk and John as a furniture salesman.

ANL/Shutterstock

How did Lucy Letby’s parents react to the allegations?

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From the early stages of the investigation, Susan and John Letby expressed their belief that their daughter was being unfairly targeted. Just two months before a formal police investigation began into rising infant deaths at the hospital, the couple reportedly told police they believed Lucy was being made into a “scapegoat”.

In March 2017, they filed a report at Blacon Police Station blaming consultant paediatricians Stephen Brearey and Ravi Jayaram, among the first doctors to raise concerns about Lucy Letby’s clinical practice.

At the time, Letby had already been moved from frontline nursing duties into an administrative role.

Evidence later heard during a public inquiry in November 2024 included claims from former hospital CEO Tony Chambers that John Letby made threats during a December 2016 meeting about the allegations. Chambers said John threatened to report doctors to the General Medical Council (GMC), recalling that he was “making threats that would have made an already difficult situation even worse”.

The couple also emailed hospital executives in July 2017, urging them to support their daughter. In the message, they argued that the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” did not appear to apply to Lucy and raised concerns about how the ongoing investigation was affecting her career.

The full statement issued by Lucy Letby’s parents

Below is the full statement from John and Susan Letby, written as the allegations against their daughter began to escalate:

“At the time when all this started in July on Lucy’s return from annual leave we were quite concerned and upset that she didn’t contact us immediately about what was going on which is totally out of character for her. Only by chance we found out that she had contacted the Royal College of Nursing and we wondered if she had done the right thing.

It transpired that she hadn’t told us as she didn’t want us to be upset and was trying to deal with the situation herself. However, the involvement of the RCN turned out to be the best thing that could have happened.

A letter was sent to the Trust from Tony Millea – Area Representative for RCN in July asking for clarity about Lucy’s situation – a reply was never received which led to Lucy reluctantly putting in a grievance as it was the only way she was likely to get any answers.

Whilst it slowly came to light that certain consultants had made comments about her professionally – when we read the grievance report to say we were shocked to the core is the understatement of the century. As parents the sickening allegations made against our daughter became a game changer.

When any organisation is in trouble it is the person at the top who is taken to task not the person at the bottom – in this case a young relatively inexperienced Band 5 nurse at the start of her career. It does not make sense that Lucy was put in charge of the sickest babies if there were concerns about her dating back to last year.

We believe that certain consultants have a personal grudge against Lucy and we are at a loss as to understanding why.

The overlying question that has kept us awake from the day this all started and no-one has come up with an answer is ‘Why Lucy?’

John & Susan Letby”

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Featured image credit: ANL/Shutterstock, SWNS