VlogUp

What would you do if your best friend turned out to be a mass murderer? It’s not a question any of us would ever want to answer, but it’s one that Lucy Letby’s friends have been forced to face this week.

Lucy, 33, has been found guilty of murdering seven babies and trying to kill six more, making her the most prolific child killer in the country. She is going to jail for the rest of her life. And yet – Lucy’s best friends are standing by her.

In an interview that takes “best friends forever” to a whole new level, one of Lucy’s friends Dawn Howe told BBC’s Panorama on Friday that she and Lucy’s closest friends are firmly on her side. “Unless Lucy turned around and said I'm guilty I will never believe that she's guilty,” declared Dawn, who has known Lucy since they were at secondary school together. “We know she couldn't have done anything that she's accused of, so without a doubt we stand by her.”

The documentary was broadcast on Friday following the guilty verdict. When questioned on Monday, ahead of the sentencing, Dawn told The Telegraph: “I stand by that statement.”

It is shocking to hear. Even if Lucy hasn’t admitted her guilt, the evidence that came out during her 10-month trial led a judge to say she displayed “malevolence bordering on sadism”. Her actions were labelled a “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder”. And yet Lucy’s friends are choosing to ignore this, instead believing in the innocence of their “goofy, bubbly” friend – a friend they’ve grown up with, partied with and now supported through a murder trial.

Yet to world-renowned psychologist Robin Dunbar, this isn’t actually as unusual as it may seem. He believes that Lucy’s friends are experiencing “moral partiality” – where we excuse things in those closest to us that we would never excuse in strangers. It’s normally something that only plays out with family, but can also happen with close friends, and given that studies show female friendships can be much more intense and exclusive than male friendships, it could explain why Lucy’s friends are stubbornly choosing to believe their friend.

“Part of the process [with moral partiality] is to refuse to accept that they may have done something terrible, unless the evidence is overwhelming,” says Dunbar, who has written a book called Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships. “We set the bar for conviction MUCH higher – it’s ‘why should I take your word for it when I hardly know you, when my trusted friend says they didn’t do it.’”

In Lucy’s case, the evidence against her really is overwhelming. But she told her closest friends not to attend the trial, which means they haven’t seen it all first hand. It could explain why they’re sticking so closely to the narrative of their “trusted friend”.

“I grew up with Lucy and not a single thing that I've ever seen or witnessed of Lucy would let me for a moment believe she is capable of the thing's she's accused of,” Dawn adamantly told the BBC. “It is the most out of character accusation that you could ever put against Lucy. Think of your most kind, gentle, soft friend and think that they're being accused of harming babies.”

To Claire Cohen, author of BFF? The Truth About Female Friendship, this is an extreme example of what can happen when women believe the myths that they are taught about female friendships. "From the youngest age, whether at school or in popular culture, we are sold the 'girl code' narrative: that unquestioning loyalty counts above all else and you must always have one another's backs, no matter what.

“By adulthood we might know, logically, that this isn't true – but it can be hard to shake off the idea that being a 'good' friend means sticking by your pals, through thick and thin. We even joke about it, telling friends that they're the person we'd call if we had to bury a body. Although, fortunately, most of us will never have to face the sort of horrific scenario that Lucy’ friends have.”

It can be hard to shake off the idea that being a 'good' friend means sticking by your pals, through thick and thin.

She also points out that these are Lucy’s school friends, who have known her from those early teen years where the ‘girl code myth’ is at its strongest. “It can be hard at the best of times to accept that those old friends, one's we've known for decades, have changed or moved on,” she says. “We prefer to keep them in boxes, not least because it means we don't have to view our own memories – perhaps, of a more innocent time – through a different lens.”

If Lucy’s friends accept her crimes, then it means completely changing how they see their “most kind, gentle, soft, friend” – and instead of having to face the fact that the person they’ve known for over two decades is going to spend the rest of her life in prison for murdering, and trying to murder, innocent young babies. But it would also mean having to let go of the idea of being a “good friend”, and it’s clear that for now, Lucy Letby's friends just aren’t ready to do that.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLjApqauqp2WtKLGyKecZ5ufY8Kse8Crq6KbnJp8rcHCsmSlnaSXxm6y0aKcp5yj