The worst mass murderer of children in British history will spend the rest of her life behind bars, a court has ruled. Lucy Letby, a former nurse on a neonatal unit in a Chester hospital, has received a whole-of-life prison term for each of seven murders and six attempted murders of babies in the unit for which she was convicted this month.
The sentencing judge in Manchester crown court said Letby had a “deep malevolence bordering on sadism” and there was no mitigation that could be considered for her crimes, which included killing babies by injecting them with air and poisoning others with insulin or through overfeeding.
Letby, who maintained her innocence throughout her 10-month trial, refused to appear in court on Monday to hear her sentence or face victims’ families, who branded her a “coward”. British prime minister Rishi Sunak said the government was examining a legal change to force criminals to appear for sentencing after Letby refused to leave her holding cell.
The government has also ordered an independent inquiry into the circumstances of her killing spree. Doctors at the hospital claimed some murdered babies could have been saved if their warnings over Letby had been heeded earlier by management.
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Letby was found guilty of killing seven newborn and premature babies in her care and trying to kill six others in a year-long spree between the summers of 2015 and 2016.
She was found not guilty of two further attempted murders, while no verdict was reached in six other cases. The verdicts were reached in three tranches from August 8th, but could only be reported after the final ones were delivered last Friday.
Soon after babies started dying in her care doctors at Countess of Chester Hospital took their concerns over Letby to management, who initially took her side. Doctors eventually brought their concerns to police, who arrested her in 2018.
The 33-yearold becomes the fourth female serial killer in British history to receive a whole-of-life sentence, after Moors murderer Myra Hindley, Rosemary West, wife of serial killer Fred West, and Joanna Dennehy, who killed three men in 2013.
