The Government will look at changing the law to compel people like baby killer nurse Lucy Letby to appear in court to face the victim’s families, ministers have said.
Speaking on Times Radio ahead of sentencing, Children’s Minister Claire Coutinho said it was “absolutely sickening” Letby was not going to show up at her sentencing on Monday after being found guilty of murdering seven babies on a neonatal unit and attempting to kill six more.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it was “cowardly that people who commit such horrendous crimes do not face their victims”.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said after the sentencing: “Lucy Letby is not just a murderer but a coward, whose failure to face her victims’ families, refusing to hear their impact statements and society’s condemnation, is the final insult.”
The former nurse’s crimes, which have horrified the nation, mark her out as Britain’s worst killer of children in modern times.
The 33-year-old refused to appear in the dock, avoiding hearing the families’ victim impact statements, or the sentencing remarks given by the judge in the case, Mr Justice James Goss.
“I think it’s absolutely sickening that she’s not going. I mean, her crimes have been so appalling,” Ms Coutinho said on Monday.
“The Justice Secretary has said that he’s committed to looking at what more the law can do and wants to make sure that we can fix this situation.
“Because I think the thing that we do all feel is that victims should be able to have that moment, they should be able to say to the perpetrator: This is what you’ve done to me, my family and my life.”
The judge cannot hold Letby in contempt for refusing to appear.
Prison officers can use “reasonable force” to take defendants to the court, but there is uncertainty as to how far “reasonable force” would cover prison officers, prompting calls for a new law for additional legal protections.
Other killers who have recently refused to appear in the dock to face victims’ families include Thomas Cashman, who in April refused to appear in the dock over shooting dead nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Liverpool.
Sexual predator and murderer Jordan McSweeney refused to come to court to be sentenced for the killing of Zara Aleena in east London and Joseph McCann, who was handed 33 life sentences for a spree of abductions and rapes against women and children, refused to leave his cell.
Liam Taylor, who stabbed his pregnant girlfriend to death with a pair of scissors, failed to attend court for his sentencing, saying it was too stressful.
Former senior crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal said earlier Monday the law would have to change to allow the prison service to physically compel Letby’s appearance in court.
“Lucy Letby should get, will get, a whole life order on Monday which means she’ll never leave prison alive,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“So how do you add an extra couple of years to that? There’s no incentive to her, you could take away some prison privileges.
“One suggestion is to Hannibalise her, and people like that, i.e. Hannibal Lecter, restrained and put a gag on them and bring them into court.
“But that would require legislation because you’re requiring the prison service to do something which they otherwise wouldn’t be able to do.”
The Government has ordered an independent inquiry into the circumstances behind the serial killer’s murders after it emerged that consultants at the Countess of Chester hospital had repeatedly raised concerns about Letby before she was eventually stopped.
However, there are calls for the inquiry to be turned into a statutory inquiry so that it can compel witnesses to give evidence under oath.
Ministers have defended the choice of a non-statutory inquiry, saying it is quicker and will give answers more quickly.
“When you get a situation like this and an inquiry is called for there’s always a debate about whether something should be statutory or non-statutory … But the truth is, when you look at statutory and non-statutory inquiries, non-statutory cores are quicker,” said Ms Countinho.
“So we will be urging people to work at pace, to get those answers that I think are really important, and a non-statutory one is still likely to be quicker.”
Letby, who deliberately injected babies with air, force fed others milk and poisoned two with insulin between June 2015 and June 2016, also refused to appear in the dock when the final verdicts were given at Manchester Crown Court on Friday.
