Nurse Lucy Letby, one of UK prolific infant serial killers, was sentenced to life in prison and has received a whole-life order on Monday for killing seven babies and attempting to kill six others when they were placed in her care.
“You relished being in the intensive care nursery. You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies,” Justice James Goss, the judge, told before sentencing Lucy Letby who was not present in the court, according to Sky News.
“You will spend the rest of your life in prison,” Justice Goss said.
“Loving parents have been robbed of their cherished children… siblings have been deprived of their brothers and sisters. The impact of your crimes has been immense,” the judge said.
Justice James Goss told the courtroom that the deaths were “harrowing” as he told those present how Letby killed the children. He also told the court how one of her surviving victims will require lifelong support and multiple surgeries.
Lucy Letby was arrested following a series of deaths of infants at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between June 2015 and June 2016.
Letby did not attend the hearing at the Manchester Crown Court. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it was a ‘cowardly act’ and said the government is planning to change the law.
Letby killed the newborns by either injecting them with air, overfeeding them with milk or poisoning them with insulin.
The victims’ families told the juror and Justice James Goss, the judge, how the crimes impacted them. Lucy Letby’s absence meant that she did not hear how her actions impacted their lives.
“I hate the fact that Lucy Letby was the last person to hold (baby P). She has destroyed our lives,” Baby P’s parents told the courtroom, according to a report by the BBC.
The parents of Baby I, who was killed by Letby in October 2015, told the courtroom and jurors that a part of her and her husband died when Baby I died. “She was our gorgeous little princess and I can’t even begin to explain the pain when we lost her. A part of us died with her,” the mother said, according to the BBC.
Lucy Letby also did not want to attend the videoconferencing of the hearing but she will receive a copy of the judgement and the victim impact statements. The prosecutors ahead of the hearing wanted a whole life order which means that Lucy Letby will not have a chance of getting parole.
“I do genuinely believe that there are four or five babies who could be going to school now who aren’t,” Jayaram lamented while speaking to UK-based ITV News last week.
Meanwhile, UK-based news outlets reported that a senior manager in charge of nursing when Lucy Letby murdered and seriously injured babies in her care has been suspended from her role.
The UK government and the health department has ordered an independent enquiry into the circumstances behind serial killer Lucy Letby’s “horrific" baby murders, a BBC report said.