The families of Lucy Letby’s victims branded the nurse “evil” as they gave emotional victim impact statements during her sentencing.
The most prolific child serial killer in modern British history will spend the rest of her life in jail after judge Mr Justice Goss handed her a whole-life order at Manchester Crown Court on Monday.
The nurse was branded a “coward” for her refusal to appear in court to hear the judge pass sentence and the impact her actions had on 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".
Here is what each family said during the sentencing:
– Child A and Child B
Letby was found guilty of the murder of Child A after injecting air intravenously into the baby boy’s bloodstream.
Child B, the twin sister of Child A, also had air injected into her bloodstream by Letby. The nurse was convicted of her attempted murder.
In a statement, the babies’ mother said: “You thought it was your right to play God with our children’s lives.”
She said that after the death of Child A they feared for their second child and made sure a member of the family was always with her, but “made a mistake” and started to believe what happened to the first child was a “tragic event that couldn’t be stopped”.
From this day you are nothing
She added: “Little did we know you were waiting for us to leave so you could attack the one thing that gave us a reason to carry on in life.”
In the statement, made on behalf of herself and her partner, she said: “Maybe you thought by doing this you would be remembered forever but I want you to know my family will never think of you again.
“From this day you are nothing.”
– Child C
Letby was found guilty of murdering Child C by forcing air down a feeding tube and into the baby boy’s stomach.
Child C’s mother choked back tears as she told Letby in her absence: “At least now there is no debate that, in your own words, you killed them on purpose. You are evil. You did this.”
She said: “Lucy Letby, to think that you could get any kind of gratification from inflicting pain… and from watching our suffering in the aftermath goes against everything I believe it is to be human.
I am horrified that someone so evil exists
“I am horrified that someone so evil exists. To you, our son’s life was collateral damage in your persistent desire for drama, attention, praise and sympathy.”
The woman told the court: “I blame myself entirely for his death. I still live with the guilt that I couldn’t protect him during pregnancy or in his short life.”
She said: “Knowing now that his murderer was watching us throughout these traumatic hours is like something out of a horror story.”
The woman called him “my tiny, feisty boy – my first born, my son” and my “defenceless baby boy”.
– Child D
Letby was found convicted of the murder of Child D after air was injected intravenously into the baby girl.
Child D’s mother of Child D told the court: “Lucy Letby had a chance to say something to us all, parents of the victims, and she had only one word – ‘unimaginable’.
“Her wicked sense of entitlement and abuse of her role as a trusted nurse is a scandal. Lucy Letby, you failed God and the plans he had for (Child D). You even called it fate. You were clearly disconnected with God.”
She said that after her baby’s death she asked for her medical notes and had a meeting with doctors and management from the Countess of Chester Hospital.
She said: “We got a solicitor and I wanted the police involved. At that stage I was told this was not a criminal matter so the police was out of the question.”
A week before the baby’s inquest was due to take place she was told they were about to arrest someone, she said.
She added: “Thank God the police started their investigation.”
The baby’s mother added: “We still have (Child D’s) death to declare officially and this could not be done until the cause of death had been agreed.
“This is going to be another difficult thing to do, going to the registrar and declaring our daughter’s death eight years after her birth.
“We wanted justice for (Child D) and that day has come.”
– Child E and Child F
The Crown said Letby killed Child E with an injection of air into his bloodstream and also deliberately caused bleeding to the baby boy. She was found guilty of his murder.
The nurse was convicted of attempting to murder Child E’s twin brother with insulin.
The twins’ mother told Manchester Crown Court: “The trial felt like a platform for Lucy to relive her crimes and it feels cruel that we had to endure a 10-month trial when she knew all along that she intentionally killed and harmed my babies.
“She has repeatedly disrespected my boy’s memory.”
She told the court: “Even in these final days of the trial she has tried to control things, the disrespect she has shown the families and the court show what type of person she is.
“We have attended court day in and day out, yet she decides she has had enough, and stays in her cell, just one final act of wickedness from a coward.”
She holds no power or relevance in anybody’s life. She is nothing
The woman added: “I would like to thank Lucy for taking the stand and showing the court what she is really like once the ‘nice Lucy’ mask slips.
“It was honestly the best thing she could have done to ensure our boys got the justice they deserve.”
She said: “We have been living a nightmare but, for me, it ends today. I refuse to wake up with my first thought be about my boys being harmed.
“Lucy no longer has control over our lives.
“She holds no power or relevance in anybody’s life. She is nothing.”
The woman said her son who survived has been diagnosed with severe learning difficulties “which we believe is a result of being poisoned with a large quantity of insulin”.
She added: “I never allow him to be alone with medical professionals.”
– Child G
The Crown said Letby targeted Child G by overfeeding the baby girl with milk and pushing air down her feeding tube. She was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder and not guilty of one count of the same charge.
I would pray for God to save her. He did. He saved her, but the Devil found her
In a statement, the father of Child G said the baby had been born prematurely and the start of her life was a “bumpy road”.
He said: “Every day I would sit there and pray. I would pray for God to save her. He did. He saved her, but the Devil found her.”
He said their child now has brain damage, is registered blind, and is fed through a tube.
Speaking about receiving the call to say someone had been arrested, he said: “I just didn’t expect that.
“I just want it to be over now.”
– Child I
Letby was convicted of murdering Child I at the fourth attempt. She had given the baby girl air and overfed her with milk.
In a statement read to Manchester Crown Court, Child I’s mother said: “I don’t think we will ever get over the fact that our daughter was tortured till she had no fight left in her and everything she went through over her short life was deliberately done by someone who was supposed to protect her and help her come home where she belonged.”
She outlined the huge impact the death of her daughter has had on her and her husband.
“We were both absolutely broken that someone could do something so evil to our precious little girl and this has had a massive effect on our family even until this day,” she said.
When we lost her a part of us died with her
“We dug for years, trying to get answers for what had happened, and over the years we have been in some very dark places mentally.”
She said: “(Her husband) wished he was dead, he wished it was him that died and not (Child I).”
The woman added: “When they handed (Child I) to us we never wanted to let her go, we held her so tight. She was our gorgeous little princess and I can’t even begin to explain the pain. When we lost her a part of us died with her.”
– Child L and Child M
The Crown said Letby poisoned Child L with insulin, and the nurse was found guilty of attempting to murder the baby boy.
Letby was also convicted of the attempted murder of Child M, Child L’s twin brother, after injecting air into his bloodstream.
In a statement read to the court, the babies’ father said the nurse looked at him as he sat in court.
He said: “There was a day when I was at the trial and the public gallery was full and I was sat in Lucy Letby’s line of view and she kept looking over at me.
“That made me feel quite uncomfortable and uneasy and I had to move in the afternoon so I was out of her view.”
He said the image of his son collapsing was “forever etched” in his mind and the stress and strain had been unbearable at times.
It doesn’t make it any easier to cope with over time
He said: “Initially doctors told us that the whole events that took place in 2016 surrounding my children was normal for premature babies and we believed what the doctors were telling us at the time.
“Little did we know that a year or so after their birth the police would come knocking on the door and break the news that this could be an attempted murder case.”
He said he had been prescribed anti-depressants but said: “Even though they have helped, they can never take away the feelings I have as a parent knowing now what had truly happened at the Countess of Chester in 2016, and it doesn’t make it any easier to cope with over time.”
– Child N
The Crown said Letby inflicted trauma on Child N’s throat and also injected air into the baby boy’s bloodstream.
She was convicted of one count of attempted murder but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on two more counts of the same charge.
In a statement read to Manchester Crown Court, the mother of Child N, who survived, said she always knew her son had been deliberately harmed.
Our trust in people in a position of trust has been completely broken
She said she felt “happy and relieved” when the police got in contact to say they were investigating Letby because “we felt like we were being listened to”.
“Finally we would receive some answers,” she said.
“We just questioned why a healthy baby boy was fine one minute and bleeding from the mouth and needing CPR the next.”
The woman outlined the impact on her family “all because of the evil actions of someone else”.
She said: “Our trust in people in a position of trust has been completely broken.”
– Child O and Child P
Letby was found guilty of murdering Child O. Prosecutors said she attacked the boy triplet by injecting him with air, overfeeding him with milk and inflicting trauma to his liver with “severe force”.
The nurse was also convicted of murdering Child P, Child O’s triplet brother, by overfeeding him with milk, injecting air and dislodging his breathing tube.
She has destroyed our lives
In a pre-recorded statement played to the court, the boys’ mother described being in a “state of shock” after two of her triplets were murdered by Letby.
She said she continues to be haunted by “vivid images” from the time and lives in “constant fear” of anything happening to her children.
Speaking about the trial, she said: “Being within the courtroom environment was extremely harrowing. That was the first time I had seen Lucy Letby since 2016.”
She said she sat behind a monitor so she was not in a direct line of sight and found the evidence difficult to listen to.
She added: “Having to come to terms with the police investigation has made the past few years unbearable.”
She told the court Letby had been the last person to hold Child P and she had dressed him after he died.
She added: “She has destroyed our lives.”
