As promised, my long post detailing my thoughts on the verdicts. I will do another post soon regarding today's sentencing and some other matters arising from the trial
The 8th of August (Tuesday) was when the first verdicts were delivered. I had come back from lunch to see through the doors that Court 7 was in session. After they had filed back out I asked a reporter who I have been on speaking terms with what had been going on and I was informed that the was going to be called back in about 45 mins, asked if they had reached any unanimous verdicts and to be directed that majority verdicts would be accepted. From that point you could almost feel the tension building amongst the Hummingbird team and my fellow members of the public who were within Court 8, so I can't even imagine what the Court 7 atmosphere was like.
When the jury foreman was asked whether they had reached any verdicts upon which they had all agreed, I was saying to myself in my head "please be the right verdicts, please be the right verdicts" and right they were, two guilty verdicts on the two insulin poisoning attempt murders. I felt a strange combination of relief and numbness after those verdicts- relief that every member of that jury had seen straight through the "Nice Lucy" facade and numbness that I had been witness to such important verdicts, but I couldn't say a word to anyone outside of court about them- this feeling of numbness was to become a familiar feeling during the period in which the reporting restrictions on the verdicts were in place. I left court that afternoon and went to watch my beloved Blackburn Rovers that evening and can recall sitting in a beer garden with my pre-match pint and thinking to myself "literally nobody else here is aware of what has happened at Manchester Crown Court this afternoon" surreal doesn't even come close.
The second set of verdicts were a bolt from the blue, as soon as the court began sitting on the 11th (Friday) and were the verdicts on four of the murder charges. I can safely say that it was the closest I had come to tears during my time attending the trial. Although I had been convinced of her guilt for some time and especially after the attempted murder convictions knew what was coming, to hear the jury return those verdicts was utterly overwhelming. I must have looked horrified and shell shocked when I quickly returned back into Court 8 in order to escape the truly awful sound of the defendants mum whaling uncontrollably, two of the detectives asked me if I was ok- I just replied that I was glad the jury had seen things how we had all seen it. Further guilty verdicts were returned last Wednesday and although the jury acquitted her of two counts of AM and failed to reach verdicts on others, I fully respect the jury's decision making- we have all made jokes about the absences and whatnot, but to undertake 22 days of deliberations after hearing nine months of evidence and only need to ask three questions to the judge was proof of their intense concentration and diligence throughout.
I would like to say thank you to the Operation Hummingbird team, many of whom I have had the honour and privilege of speaking to over the last few months- particularly the one who shook my hand and told me I was a "good man" on the Friday afternoon after the first murder convictions had been returned. Your professionalism and dedication to ensuring justice for those babies and their families has been nothing short of awe-inspiring and your decency and compassion stand in stark contrast to the vile and inhumane creature that all of your combined investigative efforts have helped to secure the conviction of. Another massive thanks of course to Nick Johnson KC and his two juniors, Phillip Astbury and Simon Driver, for their work in exposing to the jury the real, calculating and heinous nature of the defendant.
As for the babies and their families, I simply say that you will forever be in my thoughts
bastards
🥱🥱