By Rob Harris
London: Nurse Lucy Letby, the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history, has been sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of release.
The UK government is under mounting pressure to beef up the independent inquiry into how Letby, 33, went undetected for so long. She was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to kill six others while a neonatal unit nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
Serial child killer Lucy Letby will spend the rest of her life in prison.Credit: Reuters
Following a 10-month trial, Letby was found to have deliberately injected newborns with air, force-fed others milk, or poisoned them with insulin.
Justice James Goss on Monday (Tuesday AEST) imposed a whole-life order for each offence, the most severe punishment available in the UK criminal justice system for those who commit the most serious crimes. It’s a case that has horrified Britain.
Goss told Manchester crown court that Letby – who refused to attend the hearing – had shown “a malevolence bordering on sadism” in her actions and displayed no remorse. He added: “You will spend the rest of your life in prison”.
Amid a growing public row over the ability of convicted criminals to stay away from their own sentencing, Goss directed that Letby be given a transcript of his remarks and copies of the impact statements.
Letby becomes just the fourth woman in Britain handed a whole-life order, after Myra Hindley, the Moors murderer, who died in 2002, and serial killers Rose West and Joanna Dennehy.
At the start of his sentencing remarks, Goss said Letby had “relished” being in the intensive care unit where she took an interest in “uncommon” complications and targeted twins and triplets.
“You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies and in gross breach of the trust that all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions,” he said.
“The babies you harmed were born prematurely and some were at risk of not surviving but in each case you deliberately harmed them, intending to kill them.”
Goss said it was not for him to “reach conclusions about the underlying reasons” for Letby’s actions. “Nor could I, for they are known only to you.”
Her sentencing followed deeply moving statements from the parents of the victims that were read to the court, with one mother telling Letby: “You had no right to play God with our children’s lives”.
The mother of child A, one of the murdered babies, said in a victim impact statement that the family feared for their second child, but then became convinced it was a “tragic event that couldn’t be stopped”.
Another statement read out to the court, from the mother of a baby, said she would no longer leave her children in a hospital following her daughter’s death.
“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 statement said.
Lucy Letby was questioned by police during an interview after her arrest.Credit: Reuters
The father of triplets – two of whom Letby was convicted of killing – said in a prerecorded video statement that “everyday life was difficult, just getting up and living was a struggle” after the death of his children.
Police are now reviewing all 4000 admissions to neonatal units at the Countess of Chester, where the nurse worked between January 2012 and June 2016, and at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where she completed placements.
They are reportedly closely examining the cases of 30 infants who may have been harmed by Letby, but survived. These cases are separate to the 17 babies involved in the nurse’s 10-month trial at Manchester crown court.
The role of managers at the Countess of Chester has also come under scrutiny following reports that clinicians attempted to raise the alarm about Letby for months before she was removed from the hospital’s neonatal unit.
The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, which runs hospitals in Greater Manchester, said on Monday that it had suspended Alison Kelly as a director of nursing. Kelly held the same role at the Countess of Chester when Letby was committing her crimes, but the NCA said it could not comment further.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak branded Letby “cowardly” for refusing to appear in court to hear her sentence, adding he found the case “shocking and harrowing”.
“We are looking ... at changing the law to make sure that that [appearing in court for sentencing] happens and that’s something that we’ll bring forward in due course,” he said.
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