Detective who interviewed Lucy Letby says she was 'devoid of emotion'

EXCLUSIVE: Detective Sergeant who interviewed Lucy Letby reveals the killer was ‘cool and devoid of emotion’ when talking about the murder of babies in her care

Lucy Letby was ‘cool’ and devoid of ’emotion’ when talking about the murder of babies in her care, the police officer who interviewed her told the Mail today.

Detective Sergeant Danielle Stonier said questioning Britain’s most prolific child killer was ‘surreal’ and ‘intense’ at times.

And she said that she believed the calculating neo-natal nurse only spoke to police because she wanted to know what evidence they had against her, so she could try to outsmart them.

‘The Lucy Letby you saw in court was the Lucy Letby I interviewed,’ Mrs Stonier said. ‘Her tone, her approach to answering questions, even the pauses, were very much the same.

‘Some of the evidence and statements we were putting to her were really, really, graphic in detail, the allegations were horrific. 

Letby is interviewed by police in July 2018, when she admitted she had been confronted about the increased number of baby deaths on her watch 

Detective Sergeant Danielle Stonier said questioning Britain’s most prolific child killer was ‘surreal’ and ‘intense’ at times

‘Some people would be flipping the tables, throwing the chairs, banging the doors down, saying, ”look you need to go and speak to such and such. I shouldn’t be here, this is completely wrong,” (but) Lucy Letby was calm, she was quite cool, she answered the questions, she was confident with the answers. She talked but there was no emotion.’

Life of ‘vanilla killer’ church-goer dubbed ‘The Innocent One’ by friends 

When Letby’s friends circulated a post on social media inviting people to tag each other as characters from a spoof Mr Men and Little Miss series, they were quick to name her ‘The Innocent One’.

But none could have predicted the terrible irony of that post when, years later their ‘studious’ and ‘goofy’ friend was put on trial and found guilty of the most heinous crimes in modern times.

The fact that Letby was deemed ‘innocent’ and the least likely of her peers to get into trouble, perhaps speaks volumes about her ‘girl-next-door’ persona.

Letby, 33, was arrested and questioned three times by officers from Cheshire police, in July 2018, June 2019 and November 2020, when she was finally charged. In total, she was quizzed for more than 21 hours over eight days.

Often suspects refuse to co-operate when arrested for serious crimes. 

But Letby spoke to DS Stonier and her colleagues for long periods, often explaining complex medical procedures and terms, and providing them with details and information which they were eventually able to use to build the case against her.

Asked why Letby hadn’t simply answered ‘no comment,’ to their questions, Mrs Stonier said: ‘We were putting to her witness statements and medical evidence, she obviously wanted to hear that.

‘If she had gone, ”no comment,” were we going to disclose further information? She wanted to get more information out of us. She wanted to know what we’d got on her.’

DS Stonier, who has many years’ experience interviewing serious criminals with the Cheshire force’s Major Investigation Team, including quizzing the ex-football coach and prolific child sex abuser Barry Bennell, described Letby’s interviews as ‘surreal.’

‘The interviews with Lucy Letby were like nothing I’ve ever done before,’ she said. ‘It was intense, challenging at times, I certainly felt the pressure. 

‘Your adrenaline is pumping, every answer she gives your mind is ticking and you are thinking, ”how is that going to fit into the investigation?” It was quite surreal.’

Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Letby reacting to the final questions from her barrister Ben Myers 

Undated handout photo issued by Cheshire Constabulary of a cot where a baby referred to as Child G in the Lucy Letby court case. The black circles were added by the police 

CLICK HERE to listen to The Mail+ podcast: The Trial of Lucy Letby 

DS Stonier said the ‘big moment’ came when officers revealed the results of blood tests to Letby, which proved two of the babies had been deliberately poisoned – eight months apart – with insulin. 

The 33-year-old was later forced to admit in the witness box that the drug could not have been given to the children accidentally, although she maintained neither had been poisoned by her.

‘She had little to no understanding of that,’ Mrs Stonier added. ‘I remember reading out those results and I don’t think she knew what it meant.’

Even when Letby was charged, she remained composed, Mrs Stonier said.

‘It was the same Lucy Letby we’ve seen’, the officer added. ‘She listened to all the charges. 

‘A third of the way through you could feel some emotion coming through from her, but was it emotion of the severity of the offences or a feeling of, ”I’m not going home?”

Mrs Stonier said Letby was ‘not wailing or crying.’

‘She appeared composed,’ the officer added. ‘She remained stood up. You see all kinds of emotions (in that situation) from people. 

‘The natural thing is to cry and then it becomes uncontrollable, other people put their fingers in their ears and completely ignore it.

A note found in Letby’s house that had the word ‘hate’ circled and added: ‘I am evil I did this’ 

Letby murdered boys and girls between June 2015 and June 2016

‘She has this ability to mentally switch off, to disengage just to get through it.’

Other senior officers have described Letby as ‘beige and vanilla,’ and Mrs Stonier agreed being anonymous helped her get away with her crimes.

‘Lucy Letby is indescribable, if you were to walk past her in the street there’s nothing distinctive about her, she wouldn’t stand out,’ she added.

‘She blended into that neo-natal unit, she made friends with some of the families and colleagues, and kept herself abreast of what’s going on, on day-to-day basis.

‘Even when she was off duty, I’m confident if you had asked her which babies were on the unit at that time and who was caring for them, she (would know). 

‘She was always in the thick of it, her life was being a neo-natal nurse.’

DS Stonier said Letby’s crimes were ‘so horrific’ they were incomprehensible.

‘Having interviewed her and spent time with her, to think she is responsible for that grief to all those parents, to think she has done this, I still can’t comprehend it.’

Chilling moment Lucy Letby maintains her innocence in first police interview 

This is the chilling moment serial killer nurse Lucy Letby was quizzed about the spate of deaths on her watch during her first police interview – as footage also emerged of her arrest. 

The 33-year-old, who was today found guilty of seven murders, is seen being interviewed by officers at a police station about the rise in mortality at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where she worked. 

She says: ‘They told me there had been a lot more deaths and I’d been linked as someone who had been there for a lot of them.’ 

Asked if she had any concerns about the rise in mortality, the nurse says ‘yes’. 

She then adds: ‘I think we’d all just noticed as a team in general, the nursing staff, that this was a rise compared to previous years.’

Letby is interviewed by police in July 2018, when she admitted she had been confronted about the increased number of baby deaths on her watch

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