A judge gave a neonatal nurse who was convicted of murdering 7 babies while employed at a British hospital a whole life sentence Aug. 21, a rarity in the UK.
The Manchester Crown Court in northern England condemned Lucy Letby, 33, to spend the rest of her life in prison without the possibility of parole, CNN reported. Considered to be Britain’s “most prolific child serial killer of recent times,” Letby’s sentence is the most severe that can be handed down under British law, according to National World.
The trial, which lasted 10 months, found Letby had murdered seven infants at Countess of Chester Hospital. Letby was also accused of attempting to harm at least eight other infants during her employment at the facility. In two of the attempted murder charges, the jury found Letby not guilty, but could not come to a consensus on the six others, per Reuters. (RELATED: UK Nurse Accused Of Murdering Seven Babies, Attempting To Kill 10 Others)
Serial killer Lucy Letby is jailed for life and will never be released, for what judge calls “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder” https://t.co/4lx2vNcU1J
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 21, 2023
Though the parents of the murdered victims and those allegedly injured by Letby were present to read statements at her sentencing, Letby refused to appear in the dock, BBC News reported. Despite Letby’s absence, parents of the victims shared their continuing grief with the court.
“There is no sentence that will ever compare to the excruciating agony that we have suffered as a consequence of your actions,” the mother of a baby boy who was murdered in June 2015 told the court, according to the outlet.
Another mother, whose daughter was murdered in October 2015, told the court they were planning on taking their daughter home when they were informed she had suffered a fatal collapse, the BBC noted. As devastating as it was to lose their daughter, the mother reportedly told the court finding out her daughter had been murdered “absolutely” broke her family.
“We struggle with trust. I won’t leave my kids in a hospital. We will never give anyone that type of trust with our kids again. I don’t think we will ever get over the fact that our daughter was tortured until she had no fight left in her,” she stated, according to BBC News.
The mother of twin boys, one who was killed and the other who survived, told the court she had been “living with a life sentence because of Letby’s crimes,” the BBC reported. The mother explained that her surviving son has complex needs due to Letby’s actions. Speaking to Letby’s decision not to appear at sentencing, she reportedly remarked it was “just one final act of wickedness from a coward.”
While delivering Letby’s sentence, Justice James Richard William Goss observed there was a “malevolence bordering on sadism” in her actions, per CNN.
“During the course of this trial you have coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing. You have no remorse. There are no mitigating factors,” he stated, according to another BBC News report.
Letby is one of just four other women who have been given a whole life sentence in the U.K. in four decades, according to National World.