A former nurse who killed seven babies and attempted to kill six others in a northern England hospital was sentenced Monday to effective life in prison, without the possibility of release.
Lucy Letby, who refused to appear in court to have the sentence read out, was sentenced to the harshest sentence possible under British law.
Judge James Goss declared that the number of deaths and attempts and the nature of the crimes committed by the neonatal care nurse in charge of babies in the most fragile of health constituted the “exceptional circumstances” necessary to impose the so-called “chain order”. life”. , which is rare.
“There was a malevolence that bordered on sadism in conduct,” Goss stressed, who said that “during this trial, [Letby] coldly denied any responsibility for his wrongdoing.”
“He showed no remorse. There are no mitigating factors,” he added.
Life imprisonment is used to punish the perpetrators of exceptionally serious crimes and previously only applied to three other women.
Letby, 33, was found guilty by a Manchester criminal court jury on Friday after 22 days of deliberation, culminating in a 10-month trial.
“I think we will never get over the fact that our daughter was tortured until she had no strength left to fight and that everything that happened throughout her short life was done deliberately by someone who was supposed to protect her and help her come back. home, where she belonged,” said the mother of a girl identified as Girl I, in a statement read Monday in court.
The victims died in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in north-west England between June 2015 and June 2016.
The nurse was charged with deliberately harming newborn children in a variety of ways, including injecting air into their veins and introducing air or milk into their stomachs through nasogastric tubes.
She was also charged with poisoning infants by adding insulin to intravenous feedings and interfering with the intubation system for assisted breathing.
Letby has denied all the accusations.
The Guardian newspaper reported on Sunday that police suspect the nurse may have attacked 30 more babies throughout her internship and career, but all will have survived.
Source: TSF
