Neonatal nurse faces life behind bars for baby murders
Lucy Letby, the worst child serial killer in modern British history, faces spending the rest of her days in prison when she is sentenced later today for murdering seven babies and making seven more attempts to murder children at the Countess of Chester hospital.
The former neonatal nurse would become only the third woman to be given a whole-life order should the judge pass such a sentence, as has been suggested, at the hearing at Manchester crown court.
But, before that, the court expects to hear heartrending impact statements from the many victims of Letby’s crimes. The now convicted murderer has previously indicated she does not intend to return to court to hear her them – nor to hear sentence passed.
This has led to many calls to begin compelling convicts to face their sentencing hearings in person.
The judge, Mr Justice Goss, has said the court has no power to force Letby to attend. But the former justice secretary Robert Buckland called for proceedings to be broadcast into Letby’s cell, regardless of her wishes. And he has called on the government to change the law if necessary.
Key events
‘I think about what his voice would have sounded like. What he would have looked like now. Who he would have been’
Josh Halliday
The mother of Child C, who was murdered, now reads her statement in person to the court. She says she will always remember the “overwhelming weight of emotion” she felt when she first held her newborn son.
It was like nothing I’d experienced before … the way he smelled … my tiny firstborn son.
Child C’s mother says she felt it was like watching someone else’s life as her son died just days after he was born.
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.
She says she will “live forever with the guilt of his life” because she wasn’t able to protect him.
I think about what his voice would have sounded like. What he would have looked like now. Who he would have been.
She says the precious memories of her son “were tainted” on 3 July 2018, when Letby was first arrested. Starting to cry as she delivers her statement, she says:
I feel able to wear his hand and footprints for the first time in five years. I know now they represent the love that I have for my son. I will not allow evil to take that. They represent justice and the truth.
Directing her words towards Letby, she says her son’s life was “collateral damage in your persistent desire for drama and attention”.
There is no sentence that will ever compare to the excruciating agony that we have experienced since the death of our son … You killed them on purpose. You are evil. You did this.
This is incredibly emotional for those of us in court. Police officers are in tears. The relatives of victims are in tears. Journalists are in tears.
‘What should have been the happiest night of our lives became our worst,’ says grieving mother
Josh Halliday
We are now hearing victim impact statements on behalf of the families. They are being read out by Philip Astbury KC, one of the prosecutors. The mother of Child A, who was murdered, and her twin sister, Child B, who Letby tried to kill, says 2015 was “going to be the best year of our lives … everything was perfect”. She adds:
Never could we have imagined that the most previous things in our lives would be placed in such harm in the care of a nurse.
Our minds are so traumatised that it won’t let us remember the night you killed our child. What should have been the happiest night of our lives became our worst.
The statement is addressed to Letby directly, despite the killer refusing to appear in court.
After losing Child A, we made sure that there was always a member of their family at the side of his twin sister Child B. However, we made a mistake.
Child B, who survived, is a “shining light in our lives”, she tells the court.
You thought it was your right to play God with our lives. Our lives are tough. We struggle with depression, anxiety and PTSD. We sometimes want to give up but we never will … we have a duty to give [Child B] the best life possible and we will spend our lives doing that.
We hope you live a very long life and spend every day suffering forever … We will never think of you again from this day. You are nothing.
Josh Halliday
Letby’s barrister Benjamin Myers KC is now addressing the court. He says:
The thoughts of everyone lie with victims and their families. These are deeply distressing events and we recognise that, as we have throughout the trial.
Myers says his client professes her innocence, as she has throughout the trial. But that she has been found guilty by a jury.
There is nothing that we are able to add in mitigation that is capable of reducing the sentence that will be passed or the minimum term the court will impose. For those reasons I am unable to add upon, and will not, those matters that have been put before the court already.
Josh Halliday
The judge says: “Even if they were standing on their own, these offences, they would still be exceptionally serious.”
Josh Halliday
Johnson turns to the sentencing guidelines. He tells the court this is a “very clear cut case”, and the offences Letby committed are “exceptionally serious”.
The appropriate starting point is a whole-life order, he says, meaning she would never be released from prison. The sentencing guidelines advise that a whole-life order may be appropriate for murders involving “sadistic conduct”.
All these offences qualify for that description. For those reasons, my Lord, we submit this is a very very clear case which calls for a whole-life order.
Letby has ‘refused to come into court’, says prosecutor
Josh Halliday
The judge, Justice James Goss KC, has come into court.
He makes clear at the outset that there are reporting restrictions in place banning the identification of the victims or their families – and that these apply to members of the public, as well as the press.
The prosecutor Nick Johnson KC says Letby has “refused to come into court”.
Johnson will now read a summary of the counts on which Letby has been convicted – seven of murder and seven of attempted murder, relating to six other babies, spanning from June 2015 to June 2016. He names the babies she murdered and those she tried to kill.
Josh Halliday
Everyone is taking their place in court. The families of the victims are in the public gallery, the barristers have taken their seats. As expected, Lucy Letby is not in the court dock.
Neonatal nurse faces life behind bars for baby murders
Lucy Letby, the worst child serial killer in modern British history, faces spending the rest of her days in prison when she is sentenced later today for murdering seven babies and making seven more attempts to murder children at the Countess of Chester hospital.
The former neonatal nurse would become only the third woman to be given a whole-life order should the judge pass such a sentence, as has been suggested, at the hearing at Manchester crown court.
But, before that, the court expects to hear heartrending impact statements from the many victims of Letby’s crimes. The now convicted murderer has previously indicated she does not intend to return to court to hear her them – nor to hear sentence passed.
This has led to many calls to begin compelling convicts to face their sentencing hearings in person.
The judge, Mr Justice Goss, has said the court has no power to force Letby to attend. But the former justice secretary Robert Buckland called for proceedings to be broadcast into Letby’s cell, regardless of her wishes. And he has called on the government to change the law if necessary.
