British nurse to spend rest of her life in prison for murdering seven babies

Letby wrote note, saying, ‘I am evil I did this’

The parents of the babies that Letby murdered were given a chance to tell the court about the impact of her horrific acts before Friday’s sentencing. Many have spoken about their lives being forever changed, PA reported.

The parents of several of the babies that survived Letby’s assaults said their children now require around-the-clock care.

As with the sentencing, Letby was not in the courtroom when the victim impact statements were read.

Throughout the trial, the court heard harrowing testimony from parents, including in one case where Letby had tried to kill a baby boy after murdering his twin brother.

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.

It emerged that before Letby murdered Child E, he started bleeding when she tried to assault him. That baby’s twin brother, Child F, later survived an attempt by Letby to kill him by insulin poisoning. And it was revealed that police had found a series of handwritten notes by Letby.

“I don’t deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them,” she wrote in one memo, adding in another, “I am a horrible evil person” and in capital letters, “I am evil I did this.”

In 2018 and 2019, Letby was arrested twice by police in connection with their investigation, PA said. She was arrested again in November 2020.

Authorities found the notes Letby had written, as well as handover notes she had taken from the hospital during searches of her address.

During the sentencing, the judge said Letby has kept the hospital documents “as morbid records of the events surrounding the collapses” of the babies.

The UK government issued an independent inquiry into the murders on Friday, including how regulators and Britain’s National Health Service dealt with the concerns raised by consultants.

Doctors at the hospital noticed a spike in the number of babies who were dying or unexpectedly collapsing in the neonatal unit, the court in Manchester heard.

But the hospital’s management initially dismissed concerns raised by clinicians over the increased mortality rate of patients under Letby’s care, PA reported.

Lawyers for the victims’ families have said the inquiry was “not good enough” as it does not have powers to summon witnesses.

In 2016, Letby won a grievance complaint that she had filed against her employers after learning of their initial allegations.

She was scheduled to return to the neonatal department in March 2017, but her return did not take place. The hospital trust contacted the police, who opened an investigation.