Britain's most prolific child-killer cowardly refused to face the families of her infant victims in court, and was given UK's most severe sentence
Lucy Letby — a former neonatal nurse who murdered at least seven infants and made attempts on the lives of half a dozen more children — was sentenced to life in prison on Monday.
The most prolific child-killer in recent UK history refused to face the bereaved parents of her victims in court, who shared their outrage and grief in impact statements. She also did not appear at her own sentencing. Her lifetime sentence is the most severe under British law, which does not have the death penalty.
The “whole life order” is exceptionally rare in the UK.
I don’t think we will ever get over the fact that our daughter was tortured till she had no fight left in her and everything she went through over her short life was deliberately done by someone who was supposed to protect her and help her come home where she belonged.
“There was a malevolence bordering on sadism in your action,” Justice James Goss said. “During the course of this trial you have coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing. You have no remorse. There are no mitigating factors.”
Letby committed the crimes from 2015 to 2016 at the neonatal ward of the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, England.
The killer’s absence — British courts allow criminals to not attend their own sentencing — angered families who wanted the perpetrator to hear their statements about the devastation she caused.
“You thought it was your right to play God with our children’s lives,” the mother of twins said in a statement, one of her children was murdered the other Letby had attempted to kill,
It’s cowardly that people who commit such horrendous crimes do not face their victims and hear first-hand the impact that their crimes have had on them and their families and loved ones.
“I don’t think we will ever get over the fact that our daughter was tortured till she had no fight left in her and everything she went through over her short life was deliberately done by someone who was supposed to protect her and help her come home where she belonged,” the mother of a girl, who was called Child I in the case, said in a statement read in court.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “It’s cowardly that people who commit such horrendous crimes do not face their victims and hear first-hand the impact that their crimes have had on them and their families and loved ones.”
The trial went on for 10 months, with the court hearing that the hospital Letby worked at began seeing a rise in unexplainable infant deaths starting in 2015.
A number of these babies suffered “catastrophic collapses” but were able to survive due to other medical staff working at the hospital.
Letby was on duty in every one of those cases — with the prosecution describing her as a “constant malevolent presence” in the neonatal unit.
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An interview with Letby and an investigator from November 2020 was shared during the trial where she explained why she had photographed a sympathy letter she sent to the grieving parents of one of her infant victims. The condolence letter was sent a few weeks after the child had died in 2015 (referred to in the trial as Child I) — after three previous attempts at killing the baby.
“I think it was nice to remember the kind words that I had shared with that family,” the nurse said at the time.
The sympathy card, shown to the court, was titled “your loved one will be remembered with many smiles.”
“There are no words to make this time any easier,” the note began. “It was a real privilege to care for [Child I] and get to know you as a family – a family who always put [Child I] first and did everything possible for her. She will always be part of your lives and we will never forget her.”
“Thinking of you today and always. Lots of love Lucy x,” the note ended along with Letby expressing regret over not being able to attend the funeral.
During the trial, jurors were told that Post-It notes had been uncovered in a search of Letby’s residence — those notes contained mixed messages about the murders. She wrote: “I am a horrible evil person… I AM EVIL I DID THIS”; “I don’t deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them”; while other messages declared she was innocent.
Letby claimed in May, when she took the stand to defend herself, that she never intended any harm while working in the neonatal ward.
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