Baby killer nurse Lucy Letby sentenced to whole-life term in UK
London, Aug 21: Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, convicted as the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history, 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 at 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 murder of seven newborn babies and also found guilty of seven counts of attempted murder relating to six other babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northern England between June 2015 and June 2016.
In his sentencing remarks, 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.
"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," said Justice Goss.
"The babies you harmed were born prematurely and some were at risk of not surviving but in each case you deliberately harmed them, intending to kill them," he said.
On Friday, a jury at 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.
"I do genuinely believe that there are four or five babies who could be going to school now who aren't," Dr Jayaram said after the verdict.
Letby enhanced the anguish of the parents whose babies were murdered or attacked by refusing to attend her sentencing hearing.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the nurse as "cowardly" for this, adding that his government is looking at changing the law to compel guilty criminals to face their victims after being found guilty.
"I think, like everyone reading about this, it's just shocking and harrowing. Now, 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," said Sunak.
"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," he said.
The murder trial heard how Letby deliberately injected babies with air, force fed others milk and poisoned two of the infants with insulin. Many of the parents impacted by her crimes addressed the court with their victim impact statements ahead of the sentencing, with tearful mothers speaking of their trauma at discovering how their babies suffered as they breathed their last.
The judge noted that the nurse, now convicted as one of Britain's worst serial killers in history and only the fourth woman to be handed a whole-life term, "relished" being in the intensive care unit where she took an interest in "uncommon" complications and targeted twins and triplets.
"The impact of your crimes has been immense Loving parents have been robbed of their cherished children. You have caused deep psychological trauma," said Justice Goss.
"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, explaining the factors that determined her tough sentence without any prospect of parole.
Whole-life orders are the most severe punishment available and are reserved for those who commit the most heinous crimes, the BBC reported.
The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which was able to prove the case against Letby after months of intense evidence gathering, expressed relief that the nurse had finally been brought to justice.
"My thoughts remain with the families of the victims who have demonstrated enormous strength in the face of extraordinary suffering. I hope that the trial has brought answers which had long eluded them," said Senior Crown Prosecutor Pascale Jones.
"These were tiny, vulnerable newborn babies that she should have been caring for. She will never leave prison," added Cheshire Police, which led the murder investigation.
Meanwhile, a senior manager in charge of nursing when Letby murdered and seriously injured babies in her care has been suspended from her current role.
Alison Kelly, serving as nursing director at the Northern Care Alliance until recently, has now been suspended "in light of information" that emerged during the Letby trial.
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Duleep Trophy: Pacers shine as India B beat India A by 76 runs
Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.
Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.
In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.
The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.
That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.
Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.
Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.
But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.
Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.
Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.
They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.
However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.
The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.
But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.
It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.
But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.
Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).
The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
