Police footage shows neonatal unit in hospital where Lucy Letby worked
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Nurse Lucy Letby, the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history, did not appear in the dock at the beginning of her sentencing hearing in which she is expected to be told she will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
The 33-year-old was found guilty on Friday of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder six others when she was working on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. She deliberately injected newborns with air, force-fed others milk, or poisoned them with insulin.
The baby murderer is being sentenced on Monday from 10am at Manchester Crown Court and could be handed a rare whole-life order by judge Mr Justice Goss.
However, Letby indicated to her legal team last week that she would not take any part in the hearing, while the judge said the court has no power to force a defendant to attend a sentencing.
Lucy Letby does not appear in dock as sentencing gets underway
Nurse Lucy Letby did not appear in the dock at the beginning of her sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Court for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six more.
Nicholas Johnson KC, prosecuting, opened his remarks by confirming that the defendant “has refused to come into court”.
The serial killer had indicated to her legal team last week that she did not want to take any part in the hearing after she was convicted on Friday.
The court will hear from the families of her many victims on Monday before Judge Justice Goss passes his sentence later in the day.
More than a dozen relatives of Letby’s victims sat in the public gallery for the hearing and eight jurors returned to see the sentencing.
Nurse Lucy Letby did not appear in the dock at the beginning of her sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Court for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six more
Mother says Letby murdered child then chose burial gown
A mother of a child murdered by Lucy Letby has told the court that the nurse chose the gown that her child was buried in.
With a shaking voice, she said she had to grieve her child’s death in front of Letby and other members of the neonatal unit and was not given privacy. She added that her child was buried in a gown that was given as a gift from the unit, and it was chosen by Letby. “Not a day passes when I do not regret that decision,” she told the court.
She added: “I still struggle to understand why it happened to us.” She said Letby “presented herself as kind and softly spoken” but “now I know it is an act”.
“The lies that she has told fill me with anger,” the mother added. “The trial felt like a platform for Lucy to relive her crimes. She has repeatedly disrespected my child’s memory.”
The mother hit out at Letby’s refusal to come to court for her sentencing, saying: “She has decided she has had enough and stays in her cell.”
Prime Minister says inquiry should ‘happen as quickly as possible'
Rishi Sunak said the inquiry announced by the Government into the crimes of serial killer Lucy Letby should “happen as quickly as possible”.
The Prime Minister was asked whether the probe should be put on a statutory footing led by a judge, as a growing number of figures are calling for.
He told broadcasters during a visit to a nursery in North Yorkshire: “I think the important thing for the inquiry to do is make sure that families get the answers that they need, that it is possible for us to learn the lessons from what happened, everything conducted transparently and to happen as quickly as possible.
“Those are the objectives that we want for the inquiry and we’ll make sure that it’s set up to deliver on those aims.”
Rishi Sunak said the inquiry announced by the Government into the crimes of serial killer Lucy Letby should “happen as quickly as possible”
Mother who lost child to Letby’s crimes tells court she developed panic attacks
Another mother who had lost her child to Letby’s crimes told the court that she had developed panic attacks as a result.
“I have lost my confidence as a friend, as a woman, as a wife. I feel like I’ve let myself go. My marriage is also scared by all the hurdles we went through,” she said.
She added that it had been hard for her and her husband to “keep strong together at times”, adding: “I have had multiple therapies, panic attacks…I had a car accident and I crashed into a wall. After a nervous breakdown, I took time off work.”
She continued: “I did feel very lonely at times. It felt like I was losing my mind, my sanity, my worth. I considered ending it all. I was hoping that maybe if I went to the other side I would see my child and be with them.”
‘Trauma of night our baby died will live with us till day we die'
One mother of Letby’s victims told the court that “the shock and pain” of the night her baby died would stay with her forever.
“It was so sudden, so unbelievable. It was a pain for us all that was just too hard to bear. The trauma of that night will live with us all till the day we die,” she said.
The realisation that the kind nurse who had watched over the family was actually their child’s killer was like “something out of a horror story”, she said.
Her voice cracking, she continued: “Lucy Letby, to think that you could get any kind of gratification of inflicting pain on my child… I am horrified that someone so evil exists. To you, our child’s life was just collateral damage.
“There is no sentence that will ever compare to the excruciating agony that we have suffered.
“At least now there is no debate that you killed them on purpose… in your own words, you are evil, you did this.”
The realisation that the kind nurse who had watched over the family was actually their child’s killer was like “something out of a horror story”, a mother told the court
Prime Minister condemns ‘cowardly’ Letby for not facing victims
Rishi Sunak said serial child murderer Lucy Letby was “cowardly” for refusing to appear for her sentencing hearing.
The Prime Minister was asked during a visit to a nursery in North Yorkshire whether the Government was too slow in changing the law to force her to be in the dock.
He told broadcasters: “The first thing is to extend my sympathies to everyone affected by this.
“I think, like everyone reading about this, it’s just shocking and harrowing.
“Now, I think it’s cowardly that people who commit such horrendous crimes do not face their victims and hear firsthand the impact that their crimes have had on them and their families and loved ones.
“We are looking and have been at changing the law to make sure that that happens and that’s something that we’ll bring forward in due course.”
‘You are nothing,’ distraught mother of victim tells Letby
A mother of one of Lucy Letby’s victims has told the nurse “you are nothing” in a devastating statement read out by the prosecuting lawyer in court on Monday.
She said: “2015 was going to be the best year of our lives. We were going to become parents…Never could we have imagined that the most precious things in our lives would have been placed in harm’s way.
“Our minds are so traumatised that it won’t let us remember most of the night when you killed our child. You have been successful in your quest to cause maximum pain.
“You thought it was your right to play god with our children’s lives. You thought you could enter our lives and turn it upside down, but you will never win. My family will never think of you again from this day. You are nothing.”
Crimes ‘so serious they warrant a whole life order'
Prosecution lawyers are arguing that Letby’s crimes are so serious that they merit a whole life order.
Nick Johnson, the prosecution barrister, said there was a substantial degree of premeditation and planning in her offences. He also told the court that there was “sadistic conduct”, which justifies life in prison.
A life order is also merited when “the murder of a child...involves a sadistic motive”, he said.
“For those reasons we submit that this is very very clear case that calls for a whole life order.”
Why did serial killer nurse murder seven babies?
Nurse Lucy Letby has been found guilty of murdering seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital in a rare case that has shocked the nation.
An independent inquiry has been set up to understand how Letby was able to carry out the killings and attempt six others before being reported to the police.
The reasons why Letby, a neonatal nurse, committed the murders may never be fully understood, although prosecutors and other experts told jurors during her trial of several possible motivations.
Matt Mathers reports:
‘If Letby not made to attend court then will continue as trend for criminals’
The aunt of murder victim Zara Aleena has said that if criminals like Lucy Letby are not persuaded to attend their sentencing it “will continue as a trend”.
Speaking on Times Radio, Farah Naz, whose niece’s killer, Jordan McSweeney, refused to attend court for his sentencing, said she feels for the families who will not get the “brief moment of retribution”.
She added: “It’s not full, but to see her in court and to stand and to have a moment perhaps where they can see that is part of her punishment…
“And so I feel sad for those families that also may want to address her in their victim impact statements. And, I think, to have that moment to address that person that’s destroyed your life certainly is so important to the process of justice and so important to the victims themselves in their own process of dealing with their trauma.
“But I think it’s much more than that. I know that we, you know, we’ve been talking about ‘face the family’… I think that Letby has to face justice, and she has to face society. And I think we don’t have to drag in the criminal. I think we can persuade them.
“There are certain other ways of getting them into the courtroom so they face justice, and that would be to extend minimum tariffs or to refuse a tariff or to refuse parole or to refuse certain privileges in prison.
“I think, if we don’t do this, this will continue as a trend. And I think what it does when an offender doesn’t appear in the courtroom, it’s another way of the offender spitting in the face of the law, but also of the victims, and taking a bit of power.”
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2023-08-21 09:23:26Z
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