Lucy Letby handed another whole life prison term
The former nurse has been found guilty of another count of attempted murder
Last updated 5th Jul 2024
Killer Nurse Lucy Letby has been handed another whole-life order, after being found guilty of another count of attempted murder.
The 34-year-old was found guilty of an attack on a new born baby girl at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2016.
The infant - born at just 25 weeks - was described by the prosecution as the "epitome of fragility".
Sentencing Letby, Mr Justice Goss told her: "It was another shocking act of calculated, callous cruelty.
"During the course of this trial you have coldly denied any responsibility for any offences and sought to attribute wrongdoing to others.
You have no remorse."
After he reiterated to Letby that she would spend the rest of her life in prison, she turned round as she was led from the dock and said: "I'm innocent."
Letby is already serving another 14 whole-life terms, after being convicted last August by another jury of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others.
Letby 'used her craft and her skills to become a killer'
Senior Crown Prosecutor Nicola Wyn Williams said: “Lucy Letby has now been sentenced for another dreadful crime - the attempted murder of yet another baby.
“This has been an incredibly difficult, complex and disturbing case. A trained nurse tasked with looking after the most vulnerable babies used her craft and her skills to become a killer.
“She stood by as the parents of the babies she had killed or tried to kill, grieved and pretended to try and comfort them, all along knowing she was the person responsible.
“The savagery of her actions has been difficult for the prosecution team to comprehend and has devastated the lives of the families of these babies.
“We still have no idea why she committed these crimes. But the Crown Prosecution Service does not have to prove a motive, we simply need to prove that the defendant committed the crime.
“Two separate juries have now found her guilty and the sentence passed means she will never be released from prison.
“We know that is little comfort to the families, and our thoughts are with all of them again today.”
The mother of Baby K read out a victim impact statement to the court at the sentencing hearing:
“How was this possible? How could we have let this happen to her? Why has this happened? What happens next? All questions that were unable to be answered and might never be able to be.
"Our relationship was hit hard and is still affected now and will always continue to be, we are different people and cope very differently which courses friction. Most of the time we are unable to talk through what we were thinking or feeling in relation to what happened to Baby K not only her death but now that someone could have potentially knowingly hurt her, wanted her to die. We talk logistics and it stops there.
"We deal separately with the underlying feelings that we have and do this very quietly and on our own. We are people that haven’t needed help or support from anyone before, we are the ones that hand out the help and assistance, not required it ourselves.
"We struggle a lot sharing with our family and friends, putting our stress and hurt on them. We feel that we’ve put everyone through it all once when Baby K passed and now it’s happening again as the first trial approached and through to a second. We don’t want the conversation to be about us and the pity that sometimes comes with that. The impact is across all aspects of your life, like ripples in the water, layer by layer of your life is touched.
“The upheaval of baby K’s death, the 6 year wait for 1st trial, 8 month trial, the verdict and then learning we were doing it over again… was heart wrenching, but our baby girl needs a voice, we had to, we had no choice. Then the dealing with the aftermath that has no end in sight, even writing this statement took months of gaining the courage to sit down and open that box again to all that pain and anger that you put to one side so that you can function to a somewhat normal level every day, which in turn causes guilt that part of you wants to bury it away as it’s too hard and painful to process but she is also our daughter, our first born, she is part of our family and deserves a place in our headspace and daily lives.”
“Baby K is not here, never will be, we will never have what would give us peace, closure, or a feeling of being complete family unit. However, you Lucy Letby, will never hurt another child or have the privilege and joy that children give.”