14 October 2023 , 14:04
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Hospital killer Lucy Letby formed a jail “gang” with a mum who murdered her baby and a woman who helped her boyfriend cut up his step-sister’s body.
The former nurse struck up a tight bond with baby poisoner Michelle Smith and Shauna Hoare, who was convicted for her part in the killing of schoolgirl Becky Watts. A source told how the three had been “inseparable” as they spent months enjoying sunbathing, karaoke and movie nights.
The insider said: “They were together 24 hours a day – they were a well-known threesome and were literally never apart. They’d spend hours sitting on the wing landing playing board games, eating dinner together and tanning in the courtyard.
Shauna Hoare helped to cut up a young girl's body (MDM)
Michelle Smith killed her daughter (D Legakis Photography/Athena)“I think they got on because they all believed they were innocent.” The three became friends while behind bars at HMP Bronzefield, Surrey. Letby was sent there on remand ahead of her trial, which ended in August, and has since been moved to the north of England.
Smith was sentenced to life in 2007 after being convicted of feeding adult-strength painkillers to six-week-old daughter Amy. And callous Hoare, who was freed last week, served eight years for her part in the killing of Bristol 16-year-old Becky in 2015.
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Another source added: “It’s a good job they’ve been separated. They are the last people you would want associating with each other.”
They became friends at HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey (PA)Letby, 33, is appealing against her convictions for murdering seven babies and trying to murder six others in 2015 and 2016. She was sentenced to life in jail without parole after a 10-month trial at Manchester Crown Court, which heard she had carried out her crimes while working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
The jury failed to reach a verdict on six counts of attempted murder, but it was later announced she will face a retrial over the near death of a seventh tot. Despite the killings, a source claims Letby got on well with staff at the category A prison where she had been held on remand.
They said: “She became really chummy with one of the nurses who came round to give prisoners their daily medication. They’d talk at length about different pills and stuff – which we found very strange. And she was also allowed her laptop in her cell to work on her case.” After her trial Letby, originally from Herefordshire, was transferred to HMP Low Newton, Co Durham.