On Monday, a British nurse received a life sentence with no possibility of parole for the murder of seven newborn babies and the attempted murder of six others while they were under her care.
Lucy Letby, aged 33, was found guilty of killing five baby boys and two baby girls, making her the most prolific child serial killer in modern UK history.
She was arrested after a series of infant deaths at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England from June 2015 to June 2016.
According to the prosecution, Letby targeted her vulnerable premature victims, often during night shifts, by injecting them with air, overfeeding them with milk, or administering insulin poisoning.
“This sentence ensures that Letby will never again have the opportunity to cause the suffering she inflicted while working as a neonatal nurse,” stated Senior Crown Prosecutor Pascale Jones.
After a trial that began in October, a jury at Manchester Crown Court deliberated for over 100 hours before reaching their verdict on Friday. Letby was present in the dock when the guilty verdicts were delivered earlier in August but declined to appear for her sentencing on Monday.
Addressing Letby in her absence, Judge James Goss said, “You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies.” He described her actions as displaying “premeditation, calculation, and cunning” with a “deep malevolence bordering on sadism.” He also noted her lack of remorse.
Goss ordered Letby to receive a written copy of the sentencing remarks and the victim impact statements from the families, stating, “There are no mitigating factors.” Due to the severity of her crimes, he declared that early release provisions would not apply, and she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Letby is only the fourth woman in England and Wales to receive a whole life term, with infamous serial killers Rose West and Myra Hindley among those who have received this most severe sentence.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak criticized Letby’s absence in court, calling it “cowardly,” and Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour party, pledged to close a “shamefully exploited loophole” if elected to government. However, legal experts suggest that practical challenges in bringing unwilling defendants to court could hinder such plans.
Letby’s absence meant she did not hear the victim impact statements from the families. One mother, whose twin boy and girl were attacked in June 2015, said in her statement, “You thought it was your right to play God with our children’s lives.” The baby boy was killed while his elder sister survived. The father of two brothers killed by Letby, part of a set of triplets, expressed his ongoing anger and hatred towards her.
Letby’s motives remain unclear. During the trial, the prosecution argued that she “gaslighted” her colleagues into believing the rise in baby deaths was merely “a run of bad luck.” The court heard that Letby displayed an unusual interest in the families of her victims, conducting social media searches on them and sending a sympathy card to the parents of a child she was later found guilty of murdering. Handwritten notes discovered during police searches at Letby’s home, including one with “I am evil I did this” in capital letters, were presented as evidence.
The government has initiated an independent inquiry into the case, which will investigate how concerns raised by clinicians about Letby were handled by hospital management. Hospital executives have faced criticism for failing to take action on these concerns, which were reportedly raised by senior doctors as early as 2015.