The prison where convicted killer nurse Lucy Letby is serving her sentence is set to treat its inmates to a night of opera. HMP Bronzefield prisoners will be given the opportunity to join musical workshops, which will culminate in a performance. Letby, 35, who was found guilty in 2023 of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven more, is currently incarcerated at the prison. In January 2024, she received a life sentence for her crimes. Pimlico Opera, an opera company and registered charity established in 1987, has been conducting operations in prisons since the 1990s.
The company is now gearing up for its next performance, which is set to take place at Bronzefield, in Ashford, Surrey, on 6 March, as reported by NeedToKnow. The performance is due to be a rendition of Made in Dagenham, a true story about women machinists working for Ford in 1968 who staged a significant strike for equal pay, leading to the TUC making equal pay a core policy for the future. Made in Dagenham was adapted into a film in 2010 starring Sally Hawkins and Rosamund Pike and was then later transformed into a musical performed at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End in 2014.
The charity runs a series of workshops that end with the prisoners staging a performance before an audience. On Tuesday (4 Feb), a panel of medical experts working with Letby's defence team stated their belief that the 35-year-old did not commit the murders. In a press conference this month, Chairman Dr Shoo Lee said "in all cases, death or injury were due to natural causes or just bad medical care", reports the BBC.
It is believed that the findings will be included as part of an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), requesting that Letby's case be investigated as a possible miscarriage of justice. Dr Shoo Lee, who is an expert in neonatal care, claimed there were other explanations for all of the murder and attempted murder convictions, with the 14-strong team of experts providing an "impartial evidence-based report".
It wouldn't be the first time that prisoners have taken to the stage while incarcerated. In 2019, the Prisoners' Education Trust detailed how a PhD researcher had brought the works of Shakespeare to HMP Gartree. The Gallowfield Players' 15 members included 14 who were actively serving time in the prison, with the group taking on a "heavily edited" version of Macbeth and later on, Julius Caesar. In 2018, the BBC detailed how serving inmates from Her Majesty's Young Offenders' Institute Polmont in Scotland performed in 'Motion' in the Futureproof festival, with attendees asked to check their items before entry through locked doors to watch the show.
