British nurse who killed seven babies sentenced to life in prison

A court in the UK has sentenced a 33-year-old UK nurse, Lucy Letby, to life imprisonment after she was found guilty of killing seven newborn babies in northern England.

Letby who was described as Britain’s most prolific child killer of modern times by a Manchester Crown Court judge, Justice Gross while delivering judgement on Monday, will spend the rest of her life behind bars for murdering the seven babies and attempting to kill six others in her care.

The convict had reportedly killed the newborns between 2015 and 2016 by overfeeding them with milk, poisoning them with insulin, or injecting them with air, while working as a nurse in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northern England.

Justice Gross who condemned the nurse’s action while sentencing her, told her:

“You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies.

“You deliberately harmed them intending to kill them. In your evidence, you said that hurting a baby is completely against everything that being a nurse is, as indeed it should be.”

Read also: 20yrs after, South African court slams baby kidnapper with 10-yr sentence

Listing her other offences, which included making “inappropriate remarks” after the deaths of the babies, Judge Gross handed her sentence which was “a whole life sentence for every offence”.

“You will spend the rest of your life in prison,” he said.

While Letby refused to appear in court, families of the victims were present.

“Lucy Letby has destroyed our lives. The anger and the hatred I have towards her will never go away. It has destroyed me as a man and as a father,” said the father of two children who were murdered by Letby.

According to British media reports, the crime which raised outrage in the country, had British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak slamming Letby as “cowardly” for not being present in court.

“I think it’s cowardly that people who commit such horrendous crimes do not face their victims and hear firsthand the impact that their crimes have had on them and their families and loved ones,” the PM said.

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