Nurse Who Murdered Seven Babies Gets Life in Prison, Did Not Appear for Sentencing, Victim Statements

A British judge has sentenced Lucy Letby to spend the rest of her life in prison for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others while working as a neonatal nurse at a hospital in northern England.

Letby, who worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital, is considered the UK’s most prolific child killer of modern times.

Letby was not in court for the hearing, according to the BBC. Her legal team also said she did not want to follow it via a video link from prison.

By skipping the sentencing hearing, Letby did not have to hear the families' victim impact statements about how the killings have affected them.

“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 mother of a girl identified as Child I said in a statement read in court.

Letby's refusal to attend court has led to renewed calls for a law to force convicted criminals to attend sentencing hearings.

Along with the murder convictions, Letby also was found guilty of attempting to murder seven other babies, in verdicts announced on Friday.

Letby cried in court as the first of the guilty verdicts was returned.

She was found not guilty of two charges of attempted murder and the jury deadlocked on six other counts of attempted murder.

Letby enjoyed “playing God” at the hospital where she worked in England, prosecutors said.

During closing arguments, prosecutors said Letby, 33, was "completely out of control" with the "misplaced confidence she could pretty much do whatever she wanted" following the murder of her sixth victim, according to the BBC.

Prosecutors said Letby was “enjoying what was going on” with the infant deaths. She was accused of injecting the babies with air, milk or insulin between 2015 and 2016.