“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.”
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Several victim statements were read to the court by the parents of the victims before the sentencing, with one mother telling the Letby: “You had no right to play God with our children’s lives.”
The mother of Child A, one of the babies she murdered, said in a victim impact statement after the death of her child that the family feared for their second child, but then became convinced it was a “tragic event that couldn’t be stopped”.
Another statement that was read out to the court, from the mother of a baby known as Child I, said she would no longer leave her children in a hospital following her daughter’s death.
“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,” the statement said.
“We struggle with trust. I won’t leave my kids in a hospital, we will never give anyone that type of trust with our kids again.
“We should be watching her grow playing with her friends and her brothers and sisters and we have to live with the fact that was all taken away from her in the most cruellest way.”
Police are now reviewing all 4000 admissions to neonatal units at the Countess of Chester, where the nurse worked between January 2012 and June 2016, and at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where she completed placements.
They are reportedly closely examining the cases of 30 infants who may have been harmed by Letby, but survived. These cases are separate to the 17 babies involved in the nurse’s 10-month trial at Manchester crown court.
The mother of Child N, whose baby did not die, said she always knew her son had been deliberately harmed.
Lucy Letby being questioned by police during an interview after her arrest.Credit: Reuters
She said in her statement that 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”. “Our trust in people in a position of trust has been completely broken,” she added.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak branded Letby “cowardly” for refusing to appear in court to hear her sentence.
Sunak said he found the case “shocking and harrowing”, but denied his government had been too slow in changing the law to force criminals back into the dock.
“I think it’s cowardly that people who commit such horrendous crimes do not face their victims and hear first hand the impact that their crimes have had on them and their families and loved ones,” he told journalists.
“We are looking … at changing the law to make sure that that happens and that’s something that we’ll bring forward in due course.”
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