Neonatal Nurse Lucy Letby, who is the UK’s most prolific child serial killer in modern British history, has been given a whole-life sentence.
The 33-year-old was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six other infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Letby deliberately injected babies with air, force-fed others milk, and poisoned two of the infants with insulin.
She refused to appear in the dock for her sentencing hearing.
Letby will spend the rest of her life behind bars, becoming only the fourth woman in UK history to receive such a sentence.
Whole-life orders are the most severe punishment available and are reserved for those who commit the most heinous crimes.
Mr. Justice Goss said the “cruelty and calculation” of Letby’s actions between June 2015 and June 2016 were “truly horrific”.
“You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies and in gross breach of the trust that all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions,” he said.
He added handover sheets relating to all but the first four babies were found when police searched Letby’s home, which he was satisfied she kept as “morbid records”.
Sentencing her to a whole-life order for each offence, he said: “There was a malevolence bordering on sadism in your actions.
“During the course of this trial, you have coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing.
“You have no remorse. There are no mitigating factors.”
He said Letby, originally from Hereford, would be provided with copies of his remarks and the personal statements of the parents.
Letby attacked babies in her care by administering air into their blood and stomachs, overfeeding them with milk, physically assaulting them, and poisoning them with insulin, the court heard on Friday.
The allegations against Letby and her subsequent conviction triggered a government inquiry amid questions over how she was able to escape detection for so long.
She secretly assaulted 13 babies in the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester hospital between 2015 and 2016, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement on Friday.
Prosecutors argued that Letby’s intention was to kill the babies while duping her colleagues into believing there was a natural cause of death.
The mother of Child E and Child F said she “completely” trusted Letby’s advice while giving evidence to the court.
However, she said she “knew there was something wrong” when her baby, Child E, started screaming in the intensive care unit one night.
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