Lucy Letby: What makes a female serial killer?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2023
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Since the nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies, one question has remained – and may always be – unanswered: why?
In this episode we speak to an expert on female serial killers who outlines why we shouldn't be shocked by Letby and her crimes, and how Letby fits the profile of a female serial killer. But also – even more chillingly – how she doesn't.
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Book: Just As Deadly: The Psychology of Female Serial Killers https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/just-as-deadly/085C912B92AAD29C2B76251C56D91356
Guest: Marissa A. Harrison, Professor of Psychology, Penn State Harrisburg.
Host: Luke Jones.
Helplines: NSPCC provides help, advice and support to adults worried about a child.
Phone: 0808 800 5000 (24/7)
https://www.nspcc.org.uk
Samaritans is available for anyone struggling to cope and provides a safe place to talk 24 hours a day: https://www.samaritans.org
Phone: 116 123
Email: jo@samaritans.org
Child Bereavement UK: https://www.childbereavementuk.org
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is what it sounds like when people win big with a national luxury. |
| 0:18.0 | Will you be next? |
| 0:22.0 | The national luxury. |
| 0:24.0 | Could be you. |
| 0:26.0 | The rules and procedures apply. Players must be eighteen. |
| 0:40.0 | It's two weeks since the jury handed down their final verdicts in the case of Lucy Letby. |
| 0:46.0 | She was found guilty of seven counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder. |
| 0:51.0 | All of them newborn babies on the ward that she worked on as a nurse. |
| 0:56.0 | She'll be in prison for life. |
| 0:58.0 | As just 33 she knows she will never be released. |
| 1:02.0 | This is all clear, fact. |
| 1:04.0 | But what has troubled and confused many people since Lucy Letby was first arrested back in 2018 |
| 1:11.0 | is why did she do it? |
| 1:14.0 | What was her motivation? |
| 1:16.0 | How do you know the operation of somebody else's mind? |
| 1:19.0 | I've been female serial killers who have said, no, I didn't do it, no, I didn't do it. |
| 1:23.0 | And then came out and said, yeah, okay, I did. |
| 1:26.0 | Even after months of trial hearings, this is just as unclear now as it was when she was first handcuffed. |
| 1:33.0 | She goes to work every day, she's a skilled nurse, people like her. |
| 1:36.0 | She takes salsa lessons, she gets along with her friends. |
| 1:39.0 | But what about that other face, the other side? |
| 1:44.0 | As the most prolific child killer in modern UK history, |
... |
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