The parents of Lucy Letby's victims delivered harrowing statements at Manchester Crown Court, describing their lives turned upside down by grief and horror. Letby, convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, refused to appear in the dock, instead remaining in the cells beneath the courthouse. The judge ordered that she should never be freed, and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk called her non-attendance 'an insult' to the families.
One mother, holding a small grey rabbit teddy, described how her 'heart broke into a million pieces' when her newborn daughter died after being fatally injected with air. She recalled removing all traces of the baby from her home, including the unused car seat and hospital bag, and locking them away in the room that would have been her nursery. The funeral took place the day before the baby's due date, and her ashes were buried in a tiny box on the day she was due to be born.
Another mother told the court that her parents could only hold her four-day-old son after he had been pronounced dead, with Letby present in the room. 'Knowing now that his murderer was watching us throughout these traumatic hours is like something out of a horror story,' she said. She wore a pendant with her son's hand and footprints, which she had not felt able to wear since Letby's arrest, but now felt ready to wear again.
A triplet boy, now seven, asks his parents what happened to his two murdered brothers. One mother, desperate to hold her dying newborn daughter, could only cling to her tiny foot as doctors tried to save her. Another parent allowed Letby to bathe and dress their seven-day-old son in a woollen gown she had chosen, which he was buried in. 'Not a single day passes without distress over this decision,' the mother said, adding: 'We encountered evil disguised as a caring nurse.'
The parents, wearing badges with ribbons for each victim, passed tissues between them and leaned on each other in the packed public gallery. Many described needing antidepressants, turning to alcohol abuse, or being haunted by flashbacks of watching their babies die. The courtroom, which had endured the trauma of the 10-month trial, heard these statements delivered to a vacant dock, making them all the more powerful.
