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Serial child killer Lucy Letby will serve life behind bars with the country’s most depraved murderers at a prison where inmates have the chance to go shopping, pet baby animals and decorate their cells pink.
The 33-year-old, who will be held in segregation at first to stop her being attacked by fellow inmates, will be in HMP Low Newton in Durham alongside Joanna Dennehy, who murdered three men during a ten-day spree in 2013.
Bot Letby and Dennehy were sentenced to whole life orders. The only other women to have faced such a punishment are Moors murderer Myra Hindley – who died in 2002 – and Rose West.
Past inmates at Low Newton have included Cromwell Street killer Rose West, Baby P’s mother Tracey Connelly and Britain’s youngest female murderer Sharon Carr, who randomly selected and killed her victim when she was 12.
At the top security prison, killer women get the chance to pet sheep and goats and look after a rabbit and birds as a way to keep them ‘calm’. The scheme was revealed in a report last year by the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB), a group which ensures prisoners are treated humanely behind bars.
HMP Low Newton is next door to the so-called Monster Mansion of HMP Frankland, which holds Soham murders killer Ian Huntley, Wayne Couzens and Levi Bellfield.
Lucy Letby will be in HMP Low Newton in Durham alongside Joanna Dennehy, who slayed three men during a ten-day spree in 2013
This is one of the general population prison cells in HMP Low Newton where Letby will serve her life sentence
The Rags to Riches shop featured well-known clothing brands which inmates were able to buy
There is also a library at the prison where inmates can borrow books
If and when she is put into the main prison population, Letby will likely have access to the Rags to Riches shop which sells clothing to inmates.
The general population wing also features cells in which some level of room personalisation is allowed.
Photographs from a previous inspection show pink towelling and beauty products are also available.
Letby was originally held in HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, but was subsequently moved to HMP New Hall in Wakefield for the trial.
After sentencing today she will be taken to Low Newton, which is located in the village of Brasside near Durham.
Rose West was moved to Low Newton from HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Middlesex – where Letby had been serving her time on remand – after prisoners were found to be plotting to batter her with pool balls. West is now at HM New Hall, Flockton, Yorkshire, after being convicted in 1995 of ten murders.
The most notorious inmate currently in Low Newton is Dennehy, along with Kilburn murderer Emma Aitken.
Aitken was jailed for life for the murder of Barry Smith, whose beaten and burnt body was discovered outside Kilburn Welfare Social Club in Derbyshire in 2013. Her dad Vincent Aitken and boyfriend Nathan Dohert were also jailed for life.
As a multiple child killer, Letby will be viewed with extreme hostility by most behind bars and likely placed into the prison’s segregation unit at first.
The area can hold up to three women and lacks some facilities.
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Lucy Letby will spend the rest of her life behind bars after being given a whole life order by Mr Justice Goss
Serial killer Joanna Dennehy is an inmate at HMP Low Newton, where she can pet sheep and goats to keep calm
Rosemary West used to shared recipes for Victoria sponge cake with her fellow inmates while she was in prison
If the scheme is still running, Letby will also be allowed to pet sheep and goats as therapy for inmates. As well as those animals, the prison also has a resident rabbit and two birds which are looked after by prisoners.
The scheme was revealed in a new report by the Independent Monitoring Boards, which ensures prisoners are treated humanely.
The IMB noted that petting the animals had a ‘calming effect’ on even the most ‘challenging’ of prisoners.
Low Newton — a maximum security jail and Young Offender Institution — is considered a leader in changing the behaviour of dangerous female offenders.
It is home to the ‘Primrose Project’, designed to treat women with ‘dangerous and severe personality disorders’ — the only women’s prison in the UK with such a unit.
It is thought to be the only high security jail in the country to be operating a ‘petting’ scheme, although some lower category prisons do.
During the period of the IMB report — March 2021 to February last year — the jail had 10 pregnant inmates and introduced ‘memory boxes’ for prisoners to help them cope with the stress of being separated from their child.
Former inmates at HMP Low Newton include House of Horrors killer Rose West and Baby P’s mother Tracey Connelly
Tracey Connelly, the mother of Baby P, and Rose West were all former inmates at the prison
Letby will be the subject of psychological inquiries and reports, and will become the ‘patient’ of various would-be therapists and healers, whether she wants it or not.
Inspection reports on the jail said: ‘Cells were not well equipped with only a bed, toilet and sink.
‘The regime was limited with only an hour a day in the open air and half an hour to complete daily tasks, such as showering.’
The Ministry of Justice and Prison Service refused to comment to MailOnline about where Letby would serve her sentence, adding that they don’t give information on individual cases.
Letby will remain a suicide risk, and staff would be heavily – and very publicly – criticised if such a prominent prisoner were to take her own life.
A suicide watch cannot be continued indefinitely, however – certainly not for years or decades, as it places too great a strain on the staff.
It is a matter of judgment when a watch is lifted, and it is not a precise science.
Baby P’s mother Tracey Connelly was released from HMP Low Newton last year. She was also eligible for the petting scheme
