Chester hospital and attempting to murder six more. She was acquitted of two charges, and on further charges the jury told the judge in the last few hours they were unable to reach a verdict, so the Crown Prosecution Service has said they will take 28 days to decide whether or not to seek a retrial on those charges that they have been unable to decide. You have heard it here on bbc news in the last few hours reaction from across the board to what has been a terrifying and traumatic trial for the families, who have had to go back and listen to evidence about their childrens deaths, about their childrens murders, who have had to relive some of the darkest moments in their lives, and many of the statements we have been hearing on the court steps here from the police, from the Crown Prosecution Service and from the family Liaison Officer who was speaking in behalf of all of those families affected have really focused on the impact that it has had on the parents who have lost their children. In some cases their children were suffering from life changing complications, life changing complications, life changing consequences from lucy letby� s actions. This trial covered a period of time betweenjuly of 2015, june of 2015 and june of 2016. But we now know that there is going to be a further investigation into lucy letby� s crimes, and in fact the time before she was working at the countess of chester hospital. This investigation has been widened to cover the whole of her nursing career. Just in the last few moments i can tell you that the government has now ordered an independent inquiry, something the families of the victims had been calling for purely because of the period of time that it took to identify these offences and to link lucy letby as the common force among them. An inquiry has been announced, says the government, into the circumstances behind the murders and Attempted Murders of babies at the counter suggest a hospital to help ensure, they say, that families get the answer is that they need. They say that the inquiry will look into the circumstances surrounding the deaths and the incidents including how concerns raised by clinicians were dealt with. And that is Something Else that we have been reflecting on, the fact that when initial concerns were raised, that things did not move quickly enough, that the pieces of thatjigsaw did not move quickly enough, that the pieces of that jigsaw wont did not move quickly enough, that the pieces of thatjigsaw wont put together quickly enough, so this is Something Else that the governments independent inquiry will look into, and they say that the victims� families will be invited to both engage with and shape that inquiry, ensuring that their views are heard throughout the process. Lucy letby is now the most prolific killer of children in the uk in modern times. She will be sentenced here at Manchester Crown court on monday. In fact we are just told that she has left the court in the last few minutes, but she didn� t appear today for the conclusion of the trial as the jury delivered their final verdict, as they told the judge that there were some camps that they were going to be unable to reach a verdict on. She stayed down on the Holding Cells and hasjust verdict on. She stayed down on the Holding Cells and has just been taken back to prison. In fact we don� t believe that she will appear in court on monday for that sentencing either. But this has been a lengthy trial, a trial which lasted nine months from the Opening Statement to the jury being sent out to deliberate their verdict. They spent more than 110 hours deliberating their evidence and talking about the circumstances. Let� s look back at some of that with our correspondencejudith moritz. She thought she� d get away with it, but this was the moment the game was up. Lucy,is lucy, is it . To mind if i step in for a few seconds . Lucy, is it . To mind ifi step in for a few seconds . Behind the door of this ordinary suburban house, britain� s most prolific baby killer was arrested three hours after her murder spree began. Just sit there for me, lucy. Ive just had knee surgery. She worked here, in the Neonatal Unit at the countess of chester hospital. Her role, to care of the most vulnerable infants, but that couldn� t have been further from her mind. The crying, i� ve never heard anything like it since. It was screaming. It was screaming, and i was like, what is the matter with them . Legally, we can� t identify the families in this case, but the stories are distressing. These are the parents of twin boys born prematurely in 2015. Their mum was taking milk to them when she heard one of her sons crying loudly. He had blood round his mouth, and lucy was there, but faffing about and not really doing anything. Lucy said, don� t worry, the registrar was coming. She told me to go back to the ward. The baby� s mum left him in this Intensive Care area and went to call her husband. They thought their son was in safe hands with nurse letby, but a short time later they were told he was dangerously ill, and they rushed back to find doctors trying to save him. We were taken in, and we were told to talk to him and hold his hand, and then. We had a conversation with the consultant, and they said they were going to stop, because it is not helping, and we want him to die in your arms. 0n the unit, there were typically up to three deaths a year, but in 2015 they had that number in the month ofjune alone, and the pattern continued, with babies dying or coming close to death. The common factor lucy letby. This Staffing Sheet shows she was the only employee who was present every time there was a suspicious event. Dr Stephen Brearey led the team of seven consultants on the unit who shared joint concerns about letby. He� s now speaking publicly about their experience for the first time. Its something that nobody really wants to consider, that a member of staff might be harming the babies under your care. Things came to a head when two out of three healthy triplets died within 2a hours of each other injune 2016. Afterwards, a meeting was held for staff. Lucy letby was there. She was sitting next to me. I spoke to her and said how tired and upset she must be after two days of this, and hoped that she was going to have a restful weekend, and she turned to me and said, no, im back on shift tomorrow. The other staff were very traumatised by all of this. They were crumbling before your eyes almost, and she was quite happy and confident to come into work. Lucy letby was eventually moved to a clerical role. The doctors kept trying to get managers to investigate the suspicious deaths, and her connection to them. But we can now reveal that even though consultants here repeatedly made loud warnings to senior management, they say they were ignored and ultimately told that if they didn� t stop raising questions about the nurse, there would be consequences. And the doctors say that even after lucy letby came off duty on the Neonatal Unit, executives tried to draw a line under the case, and it was only a year after she stopped working as a nurse that the Police Became involved. After her arrest, officers found all sorts of items in her bedroom. Babies� medical records, her diary, and notes covered in letby� s scrawl, with phrases including, i am evil. I did this. She is a killer, and using her words, she is evil. You have spent time interviewing her, and watching her in court as well, giving evidence. What did you make of her . I think she is very emotionless. She doesnt respond to a typical Human Response that i would have expected. There was no empathy or sympathy with what has gone on at all. There are people who look at her and say, there is no way she can have done this. It is circumstantial evidence, she looks as though butter wouldn� t melt. It is an example to us all of not judging a book by its cover. We have got to accept and understand the evidence in this case has been, i believe, significant, and it has taken us to understand that lucy letby is a killer. The nurse wrote this Sympathy Card to the parents of one baby, and searched for many of the other families on facebook. Letby� s own parents supported her throughout the trial, and the court heard about her happy childhood. We may never know why she became a killer. I want her to be locked up and i never want her to come out again. Because what she has done has changed the course of our life forever. Lucy letby had many faces. Party girl, graduate, bright young nurse. But each face was a mask for evil hiding in plain sight, and at last her cover has slipped. Lucy letby will now be known as one of britain� s most notorious criminals. Judith moritz, bbc news, manchester. Just in the last few minutes, lucy letby has been returned to prison. She has been in court here today as she has been the last several days, but she refused to appear in the dock for the conclusion of that trial, and we are told she will also refuse to appear in the dock on monday when she will be sentenced by mrjustice goss, when she will receive what will likely be a lengthy custodial sentence. We are bringing you reaction and all of the background to this case here on bbc news. We are Hearing Statements coming in all the time. There is one i want to bring you from dame ruth may, the Chief Nursing 0fficerfor england, and she says, lucy letby committed appalling crimes that were a terrible betrayal of the trust placed in her, and our thoughts are with the families affected who have experienced pain and suffering more than we can imagine. Colleagues across the service have been shocked and sickened to learn what she did. Action is beyond belief to the nurses and staff who were working so hard to save lives and to care for patients. 0n hard to save lives and to care for patients. On behalf of us all, i would like to express our profound apologies to the families for all that they have been through, and it concludes by saying the nhs is fully committed to doing everything we can to prevent anything like this ever happening again, and we welcome the independent inquiry announced by the Department Of Health and social care to help ensure that we learn every possible lesson from this awful case. That is the inquiry that has been announced by the government just in the last few minutes. I also want to remind you of the statements that we heard here on the court steps at Manchester Crown court at the conclusion of that trial. We heard first of all from detective chief inspector nicola evans from cheshire police, she was the Deputy Senior investigating officer on the case. This is what she had to say. This has been a long and emotional journey for all of the families involved in this case. I speak on behalf of the entire Prosecution Team when i say that all of their babies will forever be in our hearts. I would like to thank all of the families in this case for their exceptional resilience and strength throughout this entire investigation. Their composure and their dignity during this trial has been truly overwhelming. The investigation into the circumstances surrounding this case started in may 2017. Since that time, hundreds of witnesses have been spoken to by a team of dedicated detectives. Many of those witnesses have returned to court on numerous occasions to give evidence. Without their honesty and their support, the families would not have received the justice that they have received today. I cannot begin to imagine how the families in this case feel today. I just hope that today� s verdicts bring all of them some Peace Of Mind for the future, and that we have answered some of the questions that they were looking for. Cheshire constabulary will continue to support all of the families in this case in the coming days and weeks ahead. There will be a period of reflection of everybody comes to terms with what they have experienced here today. That was detective chief inspector nicola evans, and we heard next from pascaljones, a senior prosecutor from the Crown Prosecution Service. Lucy letby was entrusted to protect some of the most vulnerable babies. Little did those working alongside her know that there was a murderer in their midst. She did her utmost to conceal her crimes by varying the ways in which she repeatedly harmed babies in her care. She sought to deceive her colleagues and pass off the harm she caused as nothing more than a worsening of each babys existing vulnerability. In her hands, innocuous substances like air, milk or medication like insulin would become lethal. She perverted her learning and weaponised her craft to inflict harm, grief and death. Time and again, she harmed babies in an environment which should have been safe for them and their families. Parents were exposed to her Morbid Curiosity and her fake compassion. Too many of them returned home to empty baby rooms. Many surviving children live with permanent consequences of her assault upon their lives. Her attacks were a complete betrayal of the trust placed in her. My thoughts are with the families of the victims who may never have closure, but who now have answers to questions which had troubled them for years. The senior prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service. We had finally a Statement Read out on behalf of the families. The identities of the babies in this case and the identities of their parents and surviving siblings has been protected, so in cases like this sometimes you do hearfamilies themselves making statements on the court steps. In this case all of that happened in a protected way during the trial, and instead we heard a Statement Read out on behalf of all of the families from janet moore, the family Liaison Officer. I have been asked to read out a statement on behalf of all the families in this case. Words cannot effectively. Explain how we are feeling at this moment in time. We are quite simply stunned. To lose a baby is a heartbreakingj experience that no parent should ever have to go through. But to lose a baby or to have a baby harmed in these particular circumstances is unimaginable. Over the past seven to eight years, we have had to go through a long, i tortuous and emotional journey. From losing our precious newborns and grieving their loss, seeing our children who survived, | some of whom are still sufferingl itoday, to being told years later. That their death or collapse might be suspicious, nothing can prepare you for that news. Todayjustice has been served, and a nurse i who should have been caring for our babies has been found guilty of harming them. This justice will not take away from the extreme hurt, anger and distress we have all had to experience. Some families did not receive the verdict that they expected, and therefore it is a bittersweet result. We are heartbroken, i devastated and angry. We may never truly know why this happened. Words cannot express our gratitude to the jury who have had to sit through 145 days of gruelling evidence which has led to todays verdict. We recognise that this has not been an easy task for them, and we will forever be gratefull for their patience and resilience throughout this incredibly difficult process. The Police Investigation began in 2017, and we have been supported from the very beginning by a team of experienced and dedicated family Liaison Officers. We want to thank these officers for everything i they have done for us. Medical experts, consultants, j doctors and Nursing Staff have all given evidence at court, which at times has been extremely harrowing and distressing for us to listen to. However, we recognise the determination and commitment that each witness has shown in ensuring that the truth was told. We acknowledge that the evidencel given by each of them has been key in securing todays verdict. Finally, we would like to acknowledge and thankl the Investigation Team and more recently the Prosecution Team i who have led the trial to a successful conclusion. The Search For The Truth has remained at the forefront. Of everyones minds, and we will forever. Be grateful for this. We would now ask for time i in peace to process what has happened as we come to terms with todays verdict. I i would now also like to read outl a statement on behalf of the team of family Liaison Officers who worked as part of. Operation hummingbird. On behalf of our team of dedicated family Liaison Officers, i would like to thank all of the families for the immense fortitude and extreme resilience that they have shown over the years. They have acted with dignity and reservedness during a very long trial, whilst hearing the most horrendous evidence. We are all extremely humbled by them. I hope that the support that we have i provided to all of the families has. Been of some comfort to them during an incredibly difficult period. We have worked closely alongside his majestys Court Service to ensure that the families have been able to watch Court Proceedings in manchester as well as remotely over. The past ten months. This has assisted them greatly in being able to view the trial with more ease. A we would like to thank court staff for their help with this. Whilst todays verdict will by no means relieve the suffering the families have gone through and are still going through, we hope it will bring| them some comfort. Our thoughts remain with you. Thank you. Thatis that is janet moore, the family Liaison Officer reflecting their on some of the family responses.