UK nurse who killed 7 babies gets life in jail

London, Augusty 21

Nurse Lucy Letby was on Monday sentenced to a whole-life term by a UK court for killing seven babies and attempting to murder at least six others while working in a hospital in northern England. Justice James Goss removed any early release provisions from the whole-life sentence order, saying the exceptionally serious nature of her crimes meant that the 33-year-old will spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Letby was last week found guilty of the murders. Justice Goss said the nurse had acted in “gross breach of trust” and with “premeditation, calculation and cunning” as he handed down the tough custodial sentence at Manchester Crown Court.

On Friday, a jury in the same court had handed down a guilty verdict at the end of a 10-month trial, following which Indian-origin consultant paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram spoke out about the alarms he and his colleagues had raised at the Countess of Chester Hospital where the nurse committed the crimes between 2015 and 2016 at its neonatal unit. “I do genuinely believe that there are four or five babies who could be going to school now who aren’t,” Dr Jayaram said.

Letby enhanced the anguish of the victims’ parents by refusing to attend her sentencing hearing. — PTI

Attempted to kill 6 others

• Nurse Lucy Letby (33) murdered seven babies and also tried to kill six others while working in Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016.
• An Indian-origin paediatrician, Ravi Jayaram, and his colleagues had raised the alarm and reported the matter to the hospital authorities and the police.