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| Lucy Letby |
The most prolific child serial killer in modern British history, neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, will live out the rest of her days in prison.
The 33-year-old was found guilty on Friday of killing seven infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital and trying to kill another six.
Letby intentionally poisoned two of the infants with insulin, forced-fed milk to others, and injected air into the babies.
She didn't show up for her sentencing hearing in the courtroom.
The judge addressed her as if she were in the dock while he continued the proceedings without her.
Letby was the fourth woman in UK history to be given multiple whole-life terms, one for each offense, making her the only one.
The most severe orders are whole-life orders.There are penalties available and they are only given to people who commit the most severe offenses.
The "cruelty and calculation" of Letby's behavior between June 2015 and June 2016 was deemed to be "truly horrific" by Mr. Justice Goss.
The trust that all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions was grossly violated by the way you behaved, he added. "You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies."
When police examined Letby's home, he said, they discovered handover forms for all save the first four kids, which he was confident she kept as "morbid records."
He said, "There was a malevolence in your behaviors that bordered on sadism.
"Throughout this trial, you have vehemently resisted accepting any blame for your crimes.
"You show no regret. There are no limiting circumstances.
Letby, who is from Hereford, was informed that copies of his remarks and thestatements from the parents' perspectives.
There was nothing Letby's attorney, Ben Myers KC, could "add in mitigation that was capable of reducing the sentence" because the neonatal nurse "maintained her innocence throughout these proceedings."
At the start of the hearing, courtroom seven at Manchester Crown Court was silent as everyone awaited the arrival of the judge.
There were eight of the jurors who heard Letby's case over a 10-month period. As students learned about the sadness, loss, and misery experienced by each family, some of them showed signs of being affected.
As victim impact statements were heard in the public gallery, parents sobbed quietly. Their statements made it quite evident that the impact on their lives will last forever.
Letby's parents, who had been there for her the entiremissed her punishment hearing following her trial.
The mother of a baby boy killed by Letby expressed her horror at the existence of such a wicked person.
The mother of Baby C, who broke down in tears as she spoke to the court in front of an empty dock, described how it seemed like "something out of a horror story" to know that her son's killer had been keeping an eye on them throughout those terrifying hours.
The mother of Baby D called Letby's "wicked sense of entitlement and abuse of her role as a trusted nurse" a "scandal" while reading her statement while holding a toy rabbit.
When Letby skipped the sentencing hearing, the mother of babies E and F called her a "coward" and said, "Our world was shattered when we encountered evil disguised as a caring nurse."
"We have gone thereShe attends court every day, but eventually decides she's had enough and stays in her cell—just one more horrible deed from a coward, she said.
Baby G's parents said in court that although "God saved her," "the devil found her" after she was born, as she was the most preterm of all the infants and weighed only 535g (1lb 3oz).
The parents of Baby N, whose murder Letby attempted in June 2016, claimed that they continued to keep a camera in their now seven-year-old's room so they could watch over him as he slept.
They declared, "We are fiercely protective."
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Four offenders are being imprisoned in secure hospitals, making a total of 70 convicts serving a whole-life sentence.
Unless there are special compassionate grounds to justify it, their release will never be considered.
Serial killers Rose West, Joanna Dennehy, and deceased Moors murderer Myra Hindley are the other women who have received a life sentence.
The government has been encouraged by Sir Keir Starmer to "get on" and present ideas to make perpetrators meet their victimsLetby declined to show up in the courtroom.
The victims' families have through the most dreadful trauma, so I want to see action in this matter taken as soon as possible, he said.
"I hope the government will take care of it because I think it can be done very quickly."
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serial infant killer Lucy Letby
The texts that Letby sent while she was killing newborns
Who is Lucy Letby, a baby killer?
Medical advice was disregarded as Letby killed other infants.
How could the NHS thwart a potential killer inside?
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Justice Secretary Alex Chalk claimed in a blog post on X, then known as Twitter, that Letby was "not just a murderer but a coward, whose failure to face her victims' families, refusing to hear their impact statements and society's condemnation, is the height of cowardice." Letby declined to show up in the courtroom.
The victims' families have through the most dreadful trauma, so I want to see action in this matter taken as soon as possible, he said.
"I hope the government will take care of it because I think it can be done very quickly."
line
serial infant killer Lucy Letby
The texts that Letby sent while she was killing newborns
Who is Lucy Letby, a baby killer?
Medical advice was disregarded as Letby killed other infants.
How could the NHS thwart a potential killer inside?
line
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk claimed in a blog post on X, then known as Twitter, that Letby was "not just a murderer but a coward, whose failure to face her victims' families, refusing to hear their impact statements and society's condemnation, is the height of cowardice." the ultimate insult.
He stated, "We are working to modify the law so that criminals might be required to attend sentencing hearings.
Prior to this, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also referred to it as "cowardly" when convicted offenders avoided appearing in front of victims or their families in court.
The government has requested an impartial investigation into the circumstances behind Letby's murderous rampage, but at this time, the investigation will not have the authority to compel witnesses to provide testimony.
As a result, some have expressed concern about how well the investigation will be able to examine the matter.
One of them is Labour's Samantha Dixon, the City of Chester MP, who told the BBC that the investigation would have to rely on "the goodwill of witnesses to attend."
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