The Mail And Lucy Letby

The inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker have a new obsession, and for reasons that may not be immediately obvious. Today, a former nurse called Lucy Letby is to be sentenced, after being found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another six. She had previously worked on the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester hospital.

As the BBC reported after all the verdicts had been delivered, “Letby deliberately injected babies with air, force fed others milk and poisoned two of the infants with insulin. She refused to appear in the dock for the latest verdicts. They have been delivered by the jury over several hearings but they were not reportable until jurors were discharged”. There was more.

“The trial lasted for more than 10 months and it is believed to be the longest murder trial in the UK”. However, “Letby will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Monday. She has indicated - via her legal team - that she does not want to attend her sentencing hearing or follow proceedings via a videolink from prison”. And so the Mail moved its obsession into higher gear.

Today’s front page thundered “MAKE COWARD LETBY FACE US! Demand from victims’ families as killer nurse set to hide in cell”. The Dacre doggies are clearly especially aggrieved not merely at Ms Letby’s actions, but more pointedly at her decision not to face the music like a good gel.

And here we get an inkling as to why the Mail is even more full of righteousness than usual: Lucy Letby has let the side down. The side consisting of the Mail’s kind of people. A recent article about her (there have, it is true, been scores to choose from) hints at the Mail’s problem, telling “How did Lucy Letby become a baby murderer? The church-going 'vanilla killer' who holidayed with her parents and slept surrounded by teddy bears was nicknamed the 'Innocent One' by friends”. Ah yes, “church-going”.

A characterisation that screams OH WHAT A GIVEAWAY. The Mail’s kind of people are not only overwhelmingly white, they are “church-going”. They are Christians. And Christians, especially displaying the veneer of being practising Christians, are the sole religious group acceptable to the Mail by default. Judaism? Well, maybe, if not too lefty. Islam? Forget it.

Why the f*** do I keep appearing in these posts, c***?!?!?

And the Mail underscores this later in the article: “Described as straight-laced, Letby attended the evangelical Hope City Church and had a close circle of 'churchy' friends - five girls who self-styled themselves the 'Miss-Matches' while studying for their A-levels at Hereford Sixth Form College”. Churchy.

On the Mail goes: “Neighbours remember Letby as a 'sweet' girl, who was a 'delight' for her parents. They were so proud when she attained her honours degree they marked her graduation, in December 2011, with an announcement in their local paper, the Hereford Times”. Do go on.

“Like the serial killer Harold Shipman two decades before her, Lucy Letby is a narcissist … Prosecutors are convinced that Letby felt 'excited' by the pain she caused and the way she was able to manipulate the unwitting players – adults and babies alike - in her sinister, depraved drama”. But enough.

What the Mail is telling us is that, yes, Lucy Letby has let the good white Christian side down. Far preferable for the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre and his cowering acolytes that those committing such heinous crimes come from groups that are not the Mail’s kind of people. The Mail cannot, today, nudge and wink that it’s one of those the paper has “othered”.

And that is why they are especially righteous about Ms Letby declining to leave her cell and come to court. The iron rule that the Mail just made up is that those on the good white Christian side should, if found guilty of serious crimes, stand before the judge, accept the sentence handed down, and hear the victims’ statements. Because that’s what good white Christians do.

Plus it beats doing actual journalism. So quite normal for the Mail, then.