A British nurse who murdered seven newborn babies while they were in her care and tried to kill six more will be jailed on Monday.
After being found guilty of murdering five baby boys and two baby girls, Lucy Letby, 33, became the UK’s most prolific child serial murderer in modern times.
Between June 2015 and June 2016, a number of infant deaths occurred at the newborn section of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England. This led to her arrest.
According to the prosecution, Letby attacked her young, frequently prematurely born victims by either injecting them with air, excessively feeding them milk, or poisoning them with insulin.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court completed its deliberations on Friday following a trial that began in October.
Letby was found not guilty on two counts of attempted murder, while the jury was deadlocked on six further attempted murder charges.
Letby, though, may never be able to leave prison due to the several murder convictions.
In the dock, Letby fought back tears as the jury handed down its initial guilty verdicts earlier in August.
However, she was not present in court for the final verdicts and was not present at the commencement of her sentencing on Monday.
Letby’s absence means she will not hear the victim impact statements from the families about how her crimes affected them.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called it “cowardly” for those who commit such heinous murders to avoid confronting their victims.
Former chief prosecutor Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labour party, promised to address the “shamefully exploited loophole” if voted to government.
The judge is expected to pass sentence on Monday afternoon.
