Lucy Letby sentenced to life in prison for murdering babies

The 33-year-old nurse, who is originally from Arran Avenue, in Hereford, has been handed whole-life terms for each of the offences she was found guilty of. 

She is the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history, and is only the fourth woman to be told she will never be released from prison. The others are Moors murderer Mya Hindley, who died in 2002, Rose West, who collaborated with her husband, Fred, to torture and kill at least nine young women, and Joanna Dennehy, who killed three men in Cambridgeshire before stabbing two walkers in Hereford.  

Letby's crimes happened in the neonatal department of the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.

Addressing the nurse, who did not attend today's (Monday's) sentencing at Manchester Crown Court, Mr Justice Goss said: "You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies and in gross breach of the trust that all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions.

“The babies you harmed were born prematurely and some were at risk of not surviving but in each case you deliberately harmed them, intending to kill them.”

The judge told her she would be provided copies of his remarks and the personal statements of the families of her victims.

Earlier, the families of Letby’s victims addressed an empty dock as they told her “you are nothing” and “you are evil”.

More than a dozen relatives of Letby’s victims sat in the public gallery for the hearing on Monday and eight jurors returned to see the sentencing.

The mother of Child E, a premature-born boy who died, and Child F, his twin brother who survived, told the court the nurse’s refusal to appear was “just one final act of wickedness from a coward”.

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