The families of Lucy Letby’s tiny victims gave emotional and harrowing victim impact statements during her sentencing, in which they spoke of their lives being cruelly scarred by the actions of a nurse they had trusted but now branded as “evil”.
A series of statements, extracts of which are reproduced here, was read to the court as Letby was handed a whole-life sentence.
Child A and B
Letby was convicted of the murder of Child A after injecting air intravenously into the baby boy’s bloodstream, and the attempted murder of his twin sister, Child B, who also had air injected into her bloodstream.
The children’s mother said:
“Never could we have imagined that the most precious things in our lives would have been placed in harm’s way in the care of a nurse, who is capable of such despicable actions. We never got to hold our little boy while he was alive because you took him away. Our minds are [so] traumatised that it won’t let us remember most of the night where you killed our child. What should have been the happiest time of our lives had become our worst nightmare. After losing [Child A], not only were we absolutely traumatised at what had happened, we were riddled with fear for our baby girl.
“We are so thankful that we had that fear for [Child B] as it saved her life, not allowing you to fully do the same to her as you did to [Child A]. After losing [Child A], we made sure that there was always a member of family at her side watching. However, we made a mistake. We started to believe that what happened to [Child A] was a tragic event that we couldn’t have [been] stopped. We trusted that [Child B] would be given extra special care, it had certainly appeared that way. Little did we know that you were waiting for us to leave so you could attack the one thing that gave us a reason to keep going on in life.
She added: “You thought it was your right to play God with our children’s lives. Our lives are tough, we struggle with anxiety, depression and PTSD and sometimes we almost want to give up. But we never will, we have a duty to our children. We have a duty to keep [Child A’s] memory alive for generations to come and we have a duty to give [Child B] the best life possible and we will spend our lives doing that.
“You thought that you could enter our lives and turn it upside down, but you will never win. We hope you live a very long life and spend every single day suffering for what you have done. Maybe you thought by doing this you would be remembered for ever. But I want you to know my family will never think of you again. From this day you are nothing.”
Child C
Letby was found guilty of murdering Child C by forcing air down a feeding tube and into the baby boy’s stomach.
His mother choked back tears as she said: “I will always remember the overwhelming wave of emotion that I felt the first time I held [Child C] … The way he smelt, the feel of his fine blond hair on my chin. My tiny feisty boy, my first born, my son.
“The shock and panic of the night that he collapsed will stay with me for ever. It was so sudden, so unbelievable. It really felt like I was watching someone else’s life not my own.”
She added: “Our two sets of parents held [Child C] for the first and only time in the hours that he lay dying. It was a pain for us all that was just too hard to bear. The trauma of that night will live with all of us until the day we die. Knowing now that his murderer was watching us throughout these traumatic hours is like something out of a horror story.”
“In the darkness of the days, weeks and months that followed [Child C’s] death, I would open his memory box. I would smell his familiar smell, I would touch his hand print. His hand and footprint were made into a pendant, I wore it round my neck. It made me feel closer to him.
“On 3 July 2018, when Lucy Letby was first arrested, these few tangible memories I had of my son felt tainted. She took those hand and foot prints, I felt so conflicted as to what that meant, so I stopped wearing them.
“Now we know as much about [Child C’s] death as I believe we ever will, I feel able to wear his hand and foot prints for the first time in five years. I know now that they represent the love that I have for my son, and I will not allow evil to taint that. They represent justice and the truth.”
Addressing Letby in her absence, she said: “I am horrified that someone so evil exists. To you, our son’s life was collateral damage in your persistent desire for drama, attention, praise and sympathy.”
She added: “There is no sentence that will ever compare to the excruciating agony we have suffered as a consequence of your murder of our son. But at least now there is no debate – that, in your own words, you killed them on purpose. You are evil. You did this.”
Child D
Letby was convicted of the murder of Child D after air was injected intravenously into the baby girl.
In a statement, Child D’s mother told the court: “Lucy Letby had a chance to say something to us all, parents of the victims, and she had only one word – ‘unimaginable’.
“Her wicked sense of entitlement and abuse of her role as a trusted nurse is truly a scandal. Lucy Letby, you failed God and the plans he had for [Child D]. You even called it ‘fate’. You were clearly disconnected with God.
“After today, I hope to be free of this limbo state I have been stuck in. The heavy load constantly on my mind has deeply changed me. My heart broke into a million pieces the second [Child D] lost her battle against evil, and that is when hell broke loose for us.
“Those lives were not yours to take and although I am torn with sadness, anger and unanswered questions, I cannot forgive you. There is no forgiving. Not now, not ever.”
Describing how she felt after her baby’s death, she said: “My arms, my heart, my life all felt so painfully empty. I needed to be her Mum in every way.
“I felt so guilty and questioned if any of this was my fault. Did I miss something? Did I do something wrong? Did I fail my daughter?”
She added: “We had to organise her funeral. You don’t choose the date. The service took place the day before her due date. Her ashes were buried in a tiny box on her actual due date.”
She had not only lost her daughter, but lost years of her life, she said: “I have had multiple therapies, panic attacks, dark thoughts plus many struggles to overcome. I used to cry every day, felt so empty, had a car accident and crashed into a wall”. She also had a nervous break down.
She added: “We still have [Child D’s] death to declare officially, and this could not be done until the cause of death had been agreed. This is going to be another difficult thing to do, going to the registrar and declare our daughter’s death eight years after her birth.
“We wanted justice for [Child D] and that day has come.”
Child E and Child F
The Crown said Letby killed Child E with an injection of air into his bloodstream and also deliberately caused bleeding to him. She was found guilty of his murder. She was also convicted of attempting to murder his twin, Child F, with insulin.
Their mother said: “On the 3 August 2015, our world shattered when we encountered evil disguised as a caring nurse. Losing [Child E ]was the most difficult thing we have ever experienced. The heartbreak and shock left me feeling confused and numb. How could [Child E] collapse so suddenly after spending the day cuddling with us?
“While caring for [Child F], we lived in constant fear of losing him too, especially during the night following [Child E’s] death. I thought, ‘Please, not again.’ I spent the entire night with [Child F] watching him closely and hoping his heart rate would stabilize. It was a living nightmare.”
Of being told Letby had been arrested, she said: “We felt cheated, deceived, and utterly heartbroken once more. The emotional impact on our family was catastrophic. We felt a range of emotions: why did this happen to us? Guilt consumed me, thinking I was able to save [Child F] but couldn’t save [Child E ] because I followed the instructions to leave him with Lucy.”
She added that after her son’s death, “Lucy bathed [Child E], an action I deeply regret, and dressed him in a woollen gown. He was buried in that gown, a gift from the unit chosen by Lucy. I feel sickened by the choice we made. Not a single day passes without distress over this decision.”
She continued: “Lucy presented herself as kind, caring, and soft-spoken. Now I know it was all an act, a sadistic abuse of power that has left me unable to trust anyone. [Child F ] has been diagnosed with severe learning difficulties, which we believe is a result of being poisoned with a large quantity of insulin.”
She added: “I would like to thank Lucy for taking the stand and showing the court what she is really like once the ‘nice Lucy’ mask slips. It was honestly the best thing she could have done to ensure our boys got the justice they deserve. We have been living a nightmare, but for me, it ends today. I refuse to wake up with my first thought be[ing] about my boys being harmed. Lucy no longer has control over our lives. She holds no power or relevance in anybody’s life. She is nothing. We have all been robbed of so much.
“She has repeatedly disrespected my boy’s memory. 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.”
Child G
The Crown said Letby targeted Child G by overfeeding the baby girl with milk and pushing air down her feeding tube. She was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder and not guilty of one count of the same charge.
In a statement, the father of Child G said the baby had been born prematurely and the start of her life was a “bumpy road”.
He said: “Every day I would sit there and pray. I would pray for God to save her. He did. He saved her, but the devil found her.”
He said their child now has brain damage, is registered blind, and is fed through a tube.
Speaking about receiving the call to say someone had been arrested, he said: “I just didn’t expect that. I just want it to be over now.”
Child I
Letby was convicted of murdering Child I at the fourth attempt. She had given the baby girl air and overfed her with milk.
In a statement, Child I’s mother said: “I don’t think we will ever get over the fact that our daughter was tortured till she had no fight left in her and everything she went through over her short life was deliberately done by someone who was supposed to protect her and help her come home where she belonged.”
On the night [Child I] died, she said, things looked like they were improving, but then she collapsed. “I remember standing by the incubator with my hand on her foot because there was only room for us at the bottom. I was shaking, I couldn’t look at the monitors because I knew she was a lot worse than all the other times, I felt absolutely broken. When they handed [Child I ] to us we never wanted to let her go. We held her so tight. She was our gorgeous little princess and I can’t even begin to explain the pain. When we lost her a part of us died with her.”
She outlined the huge impact the death of her daughter has had on her and her husband. “We were both absolutely broken that someone could do something so evil to our precious little girl and this has had a massive effect on our family even until this day,” she said.
When she fell pregnant again, she said, “I don’t remember the pregnancy. I put a wall up and blocked it out. We were so scared of the same thing happening again. Even the scans, they weren’t happy moments, they were just filled with fear.”
She added: “We dug for years, trying to get answers for what had happened, and over the years we have been in some very dark places mentally.”
Child L and Child M
Letby poisoned Child L with insulin, and she was found guilty of attempting to murder the baby boy, and also convicted of the attempted murder of Child M, Child L’s twin brother, after injecting air into his bloodstream.
In a statement read to the court, the twins’ father said: “I was first on the scene when [Child M ] had his collapse, and that image has been forever etched in my mind and this case has been going on for five-plus years. The stress and strain have been unbearable at times and my mental health has suffered as a consequence of this case.
“I have had to take time out of work and seek counselling. I also have had to take a course of anti-depressants to help me cope with this. Even though they have helped they can never take away the feelings I have as a parent knowing now what had truly happened at the Countess of Chester [hospital] in 2016, and it doesn’t make it any easier to cope with over time.”
He also suffered a seizure. He said: “The doctors found no cause of this episode, and this can only be put down to the tremendous amount of stress and pressure this has put on me.”
He added: “Even to this day, I have trouble sleeping as I get flashbacks. One extra thing I would like to add is that there was a day when I was at the trial and the public gallery was full and I was sat in Lucy Letby’s line of view and she kept looking over at me. That made me feel quite uncomfortable and uneasy and I had to move in the afternoon so I was out of her view.”
The twins’ mother said: “Being involved in this case has taken its toll on our family and seeing my husband suffer throughout the last five years has been heart-breaking for me to witness.
“I was second on the scene when M had his collapse as I was still on the ward at the time. My mental health has suffered as a consequence of this case and I have some good days, some bad, especially as the trial was about to begin and anxiety levels increased.”
Child N
The Crown said Letby inflicted trauma on Child N’s throat and also injected air into the baby boy’s bloodstream. She was convicted of one count of attempted murder but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on two more counts of the same charge.
In a statement, the mother of Child N, who survived, said she always knew her son had been deliberately harmed. She said she felt “happy and relieved” when the police got in contact to say they were investigating Letby because “we felt like we were being listened to”.
“Finally we would receive some answers,” she said. “We just questioned why a healthy baby boy was fine one minute and bleeding from the mouth and needing CPR the next.”
The woman outlined the impact on her family “all because of the evil actions of someone else”. She said: “This caused us massive trust issues which has remained with us to this day and I don’t think will ever leave us.”
She believes Child N, now aged seven, suffered lasting damage from Letby’s attack and she is undergoing investigations to establish this. He gags whenever he brushes his teeth, she said, which may be due to the throat trauma he suffered at the hands of Letby when he was only a day old.
The little boy is home-schooled “because our trust in other people has been completely broken”, she said. “We couldn’t keep him safe in hospital. As a parent it’s your duty … this was taken away from us in a place where he was at his safest … It’s our duty now and if that means wrapping him in cotton wool, then that is what we will do.”
She ended her statement by saying they thought long and hard about whether to talk about the impact of Letby’s crimes: “We don’t want her to know the damage she’s left … we didn’t want her to get any further satisfaction from the hurt that she’s caused.”
Child O and Child P
Letby was found guilty of murdering Child O. Prosecutors said she attacked the boy triplet by injecting him with air, overfeeding him with milk and inflicting trauma to his liver with “severe force”. She was also convicted of murdering Child P, Child O’s triplet brother, by overfeeding him with milk, injecting air and dislodging his breathing tube.
In a pre-recorded statement played to the court, the boys’ mother described being in a state of shock after two of her triplets were murdered. She remembers the images of doctors resuscitating her two boys, saying they “continue to haunt me to this day”. She has only one photograph of her holding all of her triplet boys before two of them died.
She continues to be haunted by “vivid images” from the time and lives in “constant fear” of anything happening to her children. Letby had been the last person to hold Child P and she had dressed him after he died.
She added: “She has destroyed our lives.”
The children’s father remembered the caesarian section being “a terrifying event”, but that the boys were born well with no complications. “I spent a brief bit of time holding the boys. We were so excited at how well they were doing and we commented at how identical they were. It was almost impossible to tell them apart.”
Describing the impact of their deaths, he described the effect on his mental health and how the couple had separated at one point, though are now reconciled, because of the strain. He had found himself “on the edge”. He said he was “out of control”: “I was at rock bottom. I had lost my job, [my partner].”
Hearing the evidence in the trial “sent shivers down my spine”, he said. “Lucy Letby has destroyed our lives. The anger and hatred I have for her will never go away. It has destroyed me as a man, as a father. Even after the trial has ended it will continue to haunt us and continue to have an impact on our lives.”
