Lucy Letby's best friend in jail revealed as Sara Sharif's murdering step-mum
Lucy Letby's best friend in jail revealed as Sara Sharif's murdering step-mum
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Nurse Lucy Letby's relationship with another of the most hated female child murderers in Britain has grown even stronger with the pair now said to be "best friends". Beinash Batool tortured and murdered her step-daughter, little 10-year-old Sara Sharif. The youngster suffered “unimaginable pain, misery and anxiety” as she was repeatedly beaten, burned, bitten and restrained at her family home in Woking, Surrey by her dad Urfan Sharif, 43, and step-mother. Batool, 30, was sentenced to life and must serve a minimum of 33 years behind bars.
She's spending her days in jail at the notorious HMP Bronzefield where she has struck up a friendship with Letby, who will never be released from her 15 whole life orders for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder eight more. It's already been revealed they have been seen chatting, giggling and playing cards. And while she may have problems with other inmates, Letby's relationship with Batool has grown closer, with our prison insider revealing: "She's best friends with that Beinash." This is despite the fact that Letby needs a prison guard with her at all times not just for her own protection, but as authorities fear she poses a danger to her fellow lags. The pair have both managed to bag prime jobs on HouseBlock Four with Letby running the laundry and Batool in the kitchens.
Speaking from inside the prison, the fellow inmate, who has asked us to protect their identity for fear or reprisals, has told the Mirror Letby has been unable to walk the corridors of the jail alone. She said: "Letby's just odd, she has a weird look, when she think someone is looking at her, she's staring at people, then she's best friends with that Beinash which isn't helping her at all, because everyone knows she's guilty, guilty, guilty.
"The unfortunate thing is she doesn't come across as very sympathetic, she's not very friendly, she's super shy actually, but she will help wherever she can. When she walked in no-one thought she was innocent, they used to be really really nasty, Lucy has to be accompanied by a guard everywhere she goes, she is considered dangerous and also is vulnerable to other prisoners.". Despite her convictions in two trials and twice being refused leave to appeal, a team campaigning on Letby's behalf claim she has suffered a miscarriage of justice and on Tuesday put forward contrasting medical opinions of some of the evidence used in court in a bid to secure a fresh appeal.
However, Letby appears unhappy about the conduct of the ongoing campaign. And despite brutally ending seven innocent and helpless young lives, the 35-year-old spends her time whining about her own life "wasting away". Our jail insider, who asked us not to reveal their identity due to fear of reprisals, revealed: "She's worried about the time this is all taking, the last trial was one year long, with zero defence experts, but now they are going to have these 14 people, how long is the trial going to be, what court is going to be able to manage a year-long trial. Meanwhile, she's 35 years old, she's in the prime of her life and her life is wasting away.".
In the meantime, Letby has been put to work, carrying out tasks for other inmates in Houseblock Four as part of the jail regime, making toast in the morning for everyone at breakfast, and doing the laundry for all the women on the wing. In August 2023, a jury spent 22 days and more than 96 hours deliberating the string of charges levelled against neonatal nurse Letby. They found her guilty of seven counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder carried out between 2015 and 2016 the Countess of Chester Hospital. She was found not guilty of two counts of attempted murder. Verdicts were not reached on six counts of attempted murder.
She was retried on one count of attempted murder in July 2024 and found guilty. Letby was sentenced to 15 whole-life prison orders meaning she will spend the rest of her life in prison. She lost two bids to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal last year. A public inquiry has been launched in the wake of Letby's convictions and has heard police are investigating other baby deaths linked to the hospital where she worked. Amid the Thirlwall Inquiry, it emerged Letby had been questioned under caution in prison by detectives probing deaths and non-fatal collapses at both the Countess of Chester and also at Liverpool Women's Hospital, where she trained as a student.
On Tuesday, at a press conference led by her barrister Mark McDonald KC, MP David Davis branded Letby's case "one of major injustices of modern times". They produced "medical evidence" from 14 neonatal medical experts which they say debunks the medical evidence presented at trial by the prosecution. Retired medic Dr Shoo Lee, who co-authored a 1989 academic paper on air embolism in babies, presented the findings of a panel who said they had compiled an “impartial evidence-based report”. He went on to give seven examples of how the care of each baby had, he claimed, wrongly been blamed on Letby, when there was "clear evidence" something else "really happened".
