Summary
The serial killer nurse Lucy Letby will never be released from prison after a judge sentenced her to a rare whole-life term for the “sadistic” murder of seven babies. Letby, 33, is one of only three women alive to have been given such a jail term in the UK. She was sentenced at Manchester crown court on Monday.
Sentencing Letby, Mr Justice Goss described her crimes as a “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable of children”.
The former neonatal nurse, the worst child serial killer in modern British history, was also convicted of attempting to murder six more babies at the Countess of Chester hospital.
The trial had heard how Letby often attacked the infants just moments after their parents or nurses had left their sides. She fatally injected seven babies with air, tried to kill two others by lacing their feeding bags with insulin and attempted to murder one by thrusting a nasogastric tube down his throat.
Letby refused to be present in court for the sentencing, in which parents of her victims described in powerful detail the impact of her crimes. Goss ordered her to be provided with a copy of the sentencing remarks and of the victim impact statements in her absence.
The Former Countess of Chester NHS hospital executive Alison Kelly has been suspended from her role within the NHS body Northern Care Alliance.
The families of the babies who were murdered by Letby spoke out within their victim statement. The mother of a baby murdered on his fourth day alive, Child C, said she felt it was like watching someone else’s life as her son died. Holding back tears in court, she said: “The trauma of us all will live with us all until we die. Learning that his killer was watching us [as we grieved] is like something out of a horror story.”
Letby refused to be present in court for the sentencing, in which parents of her victims described in powerful detail the impact of her crimes.
The Labour leader Keir Starmer called for the inquiry to be put on a statutory footing. Adding his voice to the growing number calling for the independent investigation the government has announced to be strengthened.
Following Letby’s sentencing, the lord chancellor and justice secretary, Alex Chalk KC, said:
“Nothing could begin to undo the damage that Lucy Letby has done. Justice has been served, but it was an insult to the families of her victims that Letby failed to appear in the dock to hear her sentence handed down. She took the coward’s approach, insulting her victims one last time by robbing their families of the chance to look her in the eye as the judge decided her fate.
“Cases like these make me even more determined to make sure the worst offenders attend court to face justice, when ordered by the judge.
“That’s why we are looking at options to change the law at the earliest opportunity to ensure that in the silence that follows the clang of the prison gate, society’s condemnation will be ringing in prisoners’ ears.”
Updated
