Lucy Letby’s ‘boyfriend’ died after being sacked for exchanging messages with the convicted serial killer about a baby she tried to murder, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The 53-year-old consultant doctor – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was found collapsed in his car the day after he was dismissed from the NHS hospital where he worked.
He was admitted to intensive care but died nine days later, on July 3. An inquest is due to open into his death at a date to be fixed.
The doctor was hauled before a disciplinary hearing in June over a series of inappropriate texts he sent the former neo-natal nurse while they worked together at the Countess of Chester Hospital, the Daily Mail has learned.
The messages, understood to have breached patient confidentiality, involved details of the care of a premature baby boy with haemophilia, known only as Baby N, who Letby, 36, was convicted of trying to kill the day after he was born in June 2016.
It is understood that the doctor also faced other serious allegations, including that he inappropriately accessed medical records and risked patient safety, which cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
At her trial, Letby was forced to deny she and the medic, referred to as ‘Dr A’, were having a romantic affair and claimed they were just ‘best friends’.
But she broke down in tears and tried to leave the dock when he entered the courtroom at Manchester Crown Court to give evidence.
She called him ‘sweetie’ in texts and referred to him as ‘love’ in notes scrawled with his name and love hearts that police discovered during searches at her home.
Letby is serving a record 15 whole-life terms after being found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more – one of whom she attacked twice – at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
Letby was forced to deny she and the medic were having a romantic affair and claimed they were just ‘best friends’ at trial
Letby is serving a record 15 whole-life terms after being found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more
Sources told the Daily Mail that Dr A attended a three-day disciplinary hearing in early June this year and was fired for gross misconduct a fortnight later, on June 23.
The following day relatives reported him missing and he was later found collapsed in his car at a retail park, around 20 miles from his Cheshire home.
He was admitted to intensive care but never regained consciousness, and died on July 3 at Whiston Hospital, Merseyside.
The cause of his death is not yet known but has been referred to the Cheshire Coroner, who confirmed ‘preliminary inquiries’ had begun.
His NHS bosses would have been duty bound to report his dismissal to the doctors’ regulatory body, the General Medical Council, potentially threatening his professional registration and ability to work as a medic again.
Dr A told the Thirlwall Inquiry – the public inquiry investigating Letby’s crimes – in October 2024 that the Band 5 nurse ‘misled and maybe manipulated’ him into giving her information about babies she had attacked.
The then-junior doctor swapped 1,355 Facebook messages with Letby, discussing babies who collapsed when they were on shift together, over a three-month period, between June 2016 and September 2016.
The pair also exchanged more flirty messages about their private lives, sometimes late at night, met up for walks and meals and went on day trips to London together in their free time away from work.
In one message Letby asked Dr A about the condition of Baby N and queried whether she had done anything wrong concerning his care.
Pascale Jones of the Crown Prosecution Service, Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Evans and Police Family Liaison officer Janet Moore speak outside court after Letby was found guilty
Dr A messaged back: ‘Oh Lucy, poor little thing. I am sure he has had the best care possible and you will have done everything you could for him.’
Asked by counsel for the inquiry, Rachel Langdale KC, whether such a message was appropriate, Dr A replied: ‘In hindsight, no. Looking at the content of the messages here, I’ve shared too much.’
In her evidence to the inquiry, which was overseen by High Court judge Lady Justice Thirlwall and is set to report later this year, Baby N’s mother accused Dr A of ‘blatantly’ breaching her son’s patient confidentiality.
She also revealed she had lodged a formal complaint with the hospital where he went on to work about his conduct.
Letby, formerly of Hereford, was convicted at Manchester Crown Court in August 2023 after the longest running murder trial in British history.
She has always maintained she did not kill or harm any babies in her care.
Letby has twice applied and been denied the right to appeal, but has lodged documents with the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the body which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, in a bid to secure her freedom.
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