{"id":66497,"date":"2023-08-29T05:12:14","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T05:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newcelebworld.com\/?p=66497"},"modified":"2023-08-29T05:12:14","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T05:12:14","slug":"lucy-letby-is-a-psychopath-shes-pretended-to-be-human-all-her-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newcelebworld.com\/lifestyle\/lucy-letby-is-a-psychopath-shes-pretended-to-be-human-all-her-life\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Lucy Letby is a psychopath – she\u2019s pretended to be human all her life\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Her actions shocked the nation to its core. How could a trusted and seemingly dedicated nurse kill seven babies and attempt to murder six more in a hospital\u2019s neonatal unit?<\/p>\n

But as we try to understand the depths of Lucy Letby\u2019s depravity, the questions remain about her motive and how an apparently \u201cordinary\u201d young woman turned into a cold, calculating killer.<\/p>\n

One man who has more insight than most is criminal psychologist Dr David Holmes who says Letby is \u201can actress, who has been pretending to be a human being and has done this most of her life\u201d.<\/p>\n

She was not, however, born to kill babies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe she was born with the brain configuration of a psychopath,\u201d says Dr Holmes. \u201cSomeone born with this learns to deal with it in many ways. There are many out there \u2013 some are CEOs of large companies \u2013 and sometimes their lack of empathy for others shows through.<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who come to our attention are serial killers \u2013 and I do mean serial killers. Not just killers, because people can kill for various reasons, but someone who goes on to kill again and again is someone with a lack of feeling for others, a level of insensitivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week at Manchester Crown Court, Letby was handed a whole-life order for every charge she faced, meaning she will die behind bars.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old nurse targeted babies between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital, force-feeding infants milk, poisoning them with insulin or injecting them with air.<\/p>\n

Dr Holmes says it\u2019s likely Letby went through life \u201cmanipulating people by playing a very nice person\u201d, finding purpose and power in her controlling nature within her nursing role.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften psychopaths gravitate to one uniform or another and many do go into the medical profession,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey become something like a brain surgeon who can cheerfully get up at 4am on a Sunday morning and carve open babies but in that case for a good purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psychopathy is a mental health condition characterised by antisocial behaviour including impaired empathy and remorse, cruelty, lack of accountability and the need for power.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they\u2019re after is satisfaction, a sense of purpose and a sense of fulfilling their ambitions or needs. Because they\u2019re insensitive to
the feelings of others, it\u2019s very difficult for them to find satisfaction in things. They gain it a lot more from manipulating others.\u201d <\/p>\n

Dr Holmes says in Letby\u2019s case she was put in charge of babies in a role where she had the ultimate power.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo her, although she made noises of \u2018poor little thing\u2019 to the parents, she knows they\u2019re babies, she knows they are helpless but
she doesn\u2019t feel it. Her idea of pushing little babies to the brink of death and then saving them, or looking as if she\u2019s there at the last moment doing her best to save them, is all just creating a theatrical scenario where she\u2019s playing the hero.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a final twist of the knife, there was anguish and fury from the murdered babies\u2019 families as Letby refused to face them in court or hear her sentencing. But Dr Holmes says it was a decision made by her to maintain control. Chillingly, he also believes that if she hadn\u2019t been caught her crimes would have escalated.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would have carried on. She would have needed more and more of this kind of excitement and involvement. This is usually how these sorts of people get caught. We\u2019ve had ones in the past \u2013 it took a very long time for Harold Shipman to be caught.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also debunks the idea that psychopaths are always exceptionally smart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a myth made by films but she most certainly carries narcissist traits. Narcissists have to be the centre of attention. In her mind she is far more important than these little babies ever were.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Letby\u2019s parents Susan, 63, and Jonathan Letby, 77, were also absent from their daughter\u2019s sentencing, despite the fact they had been there every day of the 10-month trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see this often,\u201d says Dr Holmes. \u201dThere\u2019s a lot of shame for the parents. It\u2019s not as if they\u2019ve been bringing up some awful teenager who has been fighting with everyone and killing the cat. Their daughter would have seemed normal to them, if perhaps a little indifferent or not responsive to certain things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letby has had strong parental support throughout her arrest and trial. Always a seemingly close-knit family unit, Letby was showered with unconditional love \u2013 she felt \u201cguilty\u201d for not returning to live at home after university \u2013 although she admitted she found them \u201ca little suffocating\u201d at times.<\/p>\n

But Dr Holmes says it was circumstance that led Letby to become a killer.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wasn\u2019t brought up wrong, this wasn\u2019t the distortion,\u201d he says. \u201cBecoming a nurse, taking an interest in the baby side of it, getting assigned to that hospital. She was given the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing an only child would have meant it was less evident something was wrong with her though. Psychopaths are very aware of themselves \u2013 it\u2019s not that they don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on, it\u2019s just that they don\u2019t have any feelings towards it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He claims it\u2019s often described as the \u201cmask of sanity\u201d.<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes that mask slips away and the most horrific thing is behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letby performed well at school and thrived in further education \u2013 something trial judge Mr Justice James Goss addressed in court, saying, \u201cThere is no doubt that you are intelligent and outwardly a very conscientious, hardworking, knowledgeable nurse \u2013 which enabled you to harm babies for some time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Letby joins serial killers Rose West, Joanna Dennehy and Myra Hindley as the fourth woman in UK history to be told she will never be released from prison.<\/p>\n

And Dr Holmes is certain life behind bars will be unpleasant for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s going to have a lot of trouble trying to find allegiances,\u201d he says. \u201cIn prison there are odd standards and people who kill children are the lowest \u2013 even serial killers of adults will look down on a baby killer, so someone who kills neonates is going to be the lowest of the low.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll have her on suicide watch most of the time, too, because for her, the only way to control her destiny is to take her own life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n