Lucy Letby forced to hear sentencing remarks she refused to attend court for

Child serial killer Lucy Letby was compelled to hear part of the sentencing remarks she refused to listen to last year as they were read out ahead of her latest trial.

Former neo-natal nurse Letby, 34, refused to attend her sentencing at Manchester Crown Court in August 2023 after she was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.

In June 20204, Letby returned to the same courtroom to face a retrial on an allegation that the previous jury could not reach a verdict on – that she attempted to murder a baby girl during a night shift in February 2016.

Her legal team tried, unsuccessfully, to throw out the case before it started as they argued she could not have a fair trial due in part to a "tsunami of prejudicial comment" in the aftermath of her convictions.

But prosecutor Nick Johnson KC countered that what followed in media coverage was "nothing more than a fair reflection of the facts of this case", which included the sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Goss.

Referring to Letby, who he said "of course was not there", he reminded the high court judge of what he said on sentencing.

Letby looked largely to the floor in the courtroom dock as Mr Johnson took seven minutes to read a section of the remarks while a packed public gallery watched on in silence.

He said: "My lord, you said 'you acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies and in gross breach of the trust that all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions … the lives of newborn or relatively newborn babies were ended almost as soon as they began and lifelong harm has been caused, all in horrific circumstances.

"'Loving parents have been robbed of their cherished children and others have to live with the physical and mental consequences of your actions. Siblings have been deprived of brothers and sisters.

"‘You have caused deep psychological trauma, brought enduring grief and feelings of guilt, caused strains in relationships and disruption to the lives of all the families of all your victims'."

Letby will be sentenced on Friday 5 July at Manchester Crown Court. She is already serving 14 whole life terms, one for each offence she was found guilty of last year.