Lucy Letby: Parents say 'a part of us died' when their baby was murdered

Tom Palmetto is that Manchester Crown Court for us with the latest as these Victims Impact statements have been read out yes Lucy let me refusing to come into courtroom number seven here in Manchester for this final stage of the criminal trial that is something that she did on a number of occasions last week as the verdicts for being delivered and it is in the words of one of the parents involved in this awful case one final Act of wickedness from a coward we've had some hugely poignant and moving statements some of them read by the mothers of the babies themselves in court who have somehow found the strength to be able to do that and there is a great frustration among many of the families that Lucy letby is not in there listening to the kind of statements I'm about to read and some of the details are very upsetting but that has been the nature of this case that has run for the last 10 months here in Manchester entirely around what Lucy leppy was doing on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016. the first statement we're going to read is from the mother of child I now all of the children in this case have anonymity and their families have anonymity they're known just by letters but of course they are Sons daughters nieces nephews grandchildren and we've had a flavor of just what the impact has been to those families through the course of this morning here in Manchester child I was a baby girl who died in October of 2015 and Lucy letby Had attacked her four times before the final attack over the space of three weeks and experts concluded that she had suffered an injection or infusion of air into her stomach and intestines the mother said that when baby I died Lucy letby came along smiling and going on about being present at her first bath and then a sympathy card that Lucy letby had sent to her parents was found to be saved on Lucy letby's phone so this is one of the many harrowing cases of what happened to the babies in this case child eye's mother has said in court someone read this on behalf of her 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 charred eye 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 and we have heard many of those harrowing painful statements through the course of this morning the next one that I'm going to share with you is from the father of Child G now this is one of the babies who survived an attack by Lucy letby and Baby G was the most premature of all of the babies in this case and the neonatal unit of course deals with some incredibly fragile uh premature babies and parents just have to put their total trust in the NHS teams as they do up and down the country every day of the year and in 99.9 of the cases the care is exceptional but we know that Lucy letby this Rogue nurse was working in Chester and for at least a year between 2015 and 2016. she was attacking babies and the father of Child G has described how his daughter who is now primary school age is now dealing with multiple medical complications severe life limiting conditions that require round-the-clock care he said Everything feels like a constant battle just to have the essential things that charging needs during her daily life he says his daughter will never have a sleepover with a best friend or go to high school and graduate she will never have a first kiss a boyfriend or get married she will always be in her chair and the emotion really in court is almost unbearable at times this morning as these succession of statements are read out either by the families and parents themselves and it is quite critical for them that Lucy letby is not in court listening to this because this sentiment is designed to reinforce to her the impacts of her crimes and it is a great um point of anger really for the families and many people outside of this case that Lucy letby who is now a convicted murderer is not in the dock listening to this we also heard from the mother of children E and F who were twins now child e sadly died after being attacked in August 2015 by Lucy letby with after air was injected into his bloodstream and his brother child F survived after Lucy letby allegedly used insulin to poison that boy uh the mother of children E and F has said Lucy was aware of our journey and deliberately caused significant harm and cruelty to our boys she went on 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 they're referring to in that statement the moment in this trial where I was in court watching Lucy letby giving evidence in her defense and it was quite notable really that the emotion that she showed and she did break down several times in in tears was when she was reminded of her life before these allegations when she was shown pictures of her bedroom where all the medical notes that she'd stolen from the hospital were found or her pet cats were mentioned they were the moments when Lucy let me became emotional when she was asked about the children and babies that she had attacked she was very straightforward in the answers and the denials that she gave saying that no it wasn't her and that there must have been some other reason but as we now know the police pieced together all of the circumstantial evidence in this case to get to those guilty verdicts in the majority of the cases that Lucy letby uh faced in court during this trial we should remember that there are some families who did not receive verdicts despite 110 hours of deliberations by the jury in some cases they just simply couldn't reach verdicts in which they were beyond all reasonable doubt that she had committed those crimes and so some of the families hugely frustratingly and um painfully for them have not got to the point of having verdicts in this case after a 10-month painful trial I'll just run through a few more of the statements from Manchester that we've heard this morning the mother of child D has also uh explains the impact on their family through the course of this horrendous seven years for the families child D was a baby girl who died in June 2015. again a deliberate injection of air into the bloodstream and this is another of the families that Lucy letby searched for on Facebook after the attack the mother of child D said to the court today Lucy letby you failed God and the plans we had for child d I miss child D so much I was desperate to smell her to cuddle her and these very powerful statements emotionally charged continue the mother of child C another of the murder victims in this case again a premature baby who was cared for on the neonatal unit in Chester the mother of child C talked about my tiny feisty boy my firstborn my son trauma of that night will live with us all until the day we die knowing his murder murderer was watching us was like something out of a Horror Story and before we leave you here in Manchester just bring you the statement from the mother of child children A and B another set of twins who were attacked by Lucy let beat these were the first attacks that were looked at in this trial from June 2015 at the first child a baby boy died his sister child B survived and the mother of those twins children A and B said we never got to hold our little boil boy why while he was alive because you took him away what should have been the happiest Time Of Our Lives became our worst nightmare and you can see there that the level of suffering and the fact that these families have been through just the most unimaginable ordeal over the course of these seven years since Lucy letby was on this Killing Spree that lasted for 12 months at least and we know the police are looking at other cases as well where babies may have been harmed but those families that have been at the center of this trial in Manchester over the last 10 months this morning getting their opportunity to speak about what Lucy lepy's crimes have done to them as families but we know Lucy letby is not in court listening to that there are arguments as to how that is allowed to happen the judge says he has no power to compel her to be in the courtroom and the government have said that they are looking at changing the law promptly to make sure that that can happen in future cases that is of no consolation to those families who are in court today going through that trauma and that one last Act of wickedness as it's been described by one of the families the judge will start his sentencing remarks which will be on camera the cameras will be switched on in court seven from two o'clock this afternoon

Channel: Sky News

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Id: FWUcJP5QvXM

Length: 10min 56sec (656 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 21 2023