‘Cowardly’ Lucy Letby refuses to face victims’ families at sentencing for murdering seven babies

Lucy Letby will be sentenced today at Manchester Crown Court (Picture: PA)

Lucy Letby, Britain’s worst child killer of modern times, has failed to appear in the dock for her sentencing this morning.

The nurse, who murdered seven babies and tried to kill six more while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit between 2015-2016, is expected to be handed a life sentence at Manchester Crown Court.

Nicholas Johnson KC, prosecuting, opened his remarks today by confirming that the defendant ‘has refused to come into court’.

The mother of Child E, who died, and Child F, who survived, told the court: ‘Even in these final days of the trial she has tried to control things, the disrespect she has shown the families and the court show what type of person she is.

‘We have attended court day in and day out, yet she decides she has had enough, and stays in her cell, just one final act of wickedness from a coward.’

Speculation over whether Letby, 33, would actually appear before judge Mr Justice Goss to hear her sentence has been rife in recent days.

She had been present in the dock when the jury read out their initial verdicts but when more were returned the following day, Letby told her legal team she did want to return to court, including for the sentencing.

The reasons for her non-attendance have not yet been disclosed by the judge.

Speaking after all the verdicts were returned, the judge said: ‘The sentencing hearing will of course take place whether she is present or not.

‘The court has no power to force a defendant to attend at a sentencing hearing, therefore there is nothing I can do in relation to that.’

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Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to a nursery in North Yorkshire, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: ‘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.

‘We are looking and have been at changing the law to make sure that that happens and that’s something that we’ll bring forward in due course.’

Earlier this year, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said the government is ‘committed’ to changing the law so criminals must attend their sentencing hearings.

And late on Sunday, a government source suggested ‘lawful enforcement’ could be used as a last resort to ensure Letby’s appearance in court today.

They said: ‘Lucy Letby should be in court to hear society’s condemnation of the enormity of her crimes, expressed by the judge.

‘If that requires the use of lawful enforcement, so be it. If she continues to refuse, that will only strengthen our resolve to change the law as soon as we can.’

Lucy Letby listened to the first few verdicts from the jury, but did not return to court to hear them finish (Picture: PA) Lucy Letby previously failed to appear to hear the final verdicts from the jury (Picture: PA)More: Crime news

Calls for action became louder earlier this year, when nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s killer Thomas Cashman refused to appear in the dock to hear he had been jailed for life.

The murderers of Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa also did not attend for their sentencing sessions last year.

This morning, Zara Aleena’s aunt Farah Naz told Times Radio she was concerned the non-attendance of criminals ‘will continue as a trend’ if they are not persuaded to appear in court.

She said: ‘I think that Letby has to face justice, and she has to face society. And I think we don’t have to drag in the criminal. I think we can persuade them.

‘There are certain other ways of getting them into the courtroom so they face justice, and that would be to extend minimum tariffs or to refuse a tariff or to refuse parole or to refuse certain privileges in prison.

‘I think, if we don’t do this, this will continue as a trend. And I think what it does when an offender doesn’t appear in the courtroom, it’s another way of the offender spitting in the face of the law, but also of the victims, and taking a bit of power.’

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