The parents of the tots murdered by baby-killing nurse Lucy Letby demand she returns to court today to hear her fate.
It is believed Letby, 33, is refusing to return to the dock today (August 21) to face sentencing for seven murders and six attempted murders at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
The move has been described as “cowardly” with a demand that the law is changed, stopping offenders from “hiding” from their victims when their prison term is decided.
But the Government yesterday vowed it would force the depraved woman to face up to the sentencing. If Letby is allowed to swerve the hearing, she will avoid listening to the family’s impact statements that will detail the devastation she wrought on them.
Last night MPs and distraught parents demanded new legislation be pushed through to compel serious offenders to “face the music”.
Prison officers may employ “lawful enforcement” measures to prise Letby from her cell when the judge passes her sentence today, according to The Telegraph.
A state source told the publication that Letby will be made to attend the sentencing if she opts to miss it, adding that she must attend court to listen to the judge express “society’s condemnation of the enormity of her crimes”.
The source also said that if lawful enforcement is necessary then “so be it”, and if she attempts to resist then it will strengthen the Government’s resolve to alter the law.
One dad, whose twin boys narrowly escaped Letby’s murderous clutches, told the Mail that her refusal to attend court to hear from the victims is a “slap in the face”.
He told the publication: “I’m so angry that Letby is refusing to come to court to hear her sentence. She is a coward and we feel cheated that she will not be present to hear exactly how her terrible actions have affected our boys and our lives.”
‘The law must change’
He added: “What gives her the right to refuse to come up from the cells or to tell the judge that she doesn’t intend to listen to his sentence? The law must change. The judge should be given the power to summon her into the dock to face myself, my wife and all the other victims who desperately want her to hear our victim impact statements.
“It is a total injustice and slap in the face for us all. The British justice system needs to change, to ensure that, in the future, all victims’ voices are heard by those that perpetrate such horrendous crimes.”
Janet Moore, Family Liaison Co-ordinator with Cheshire Constabulary, read the statement on behalf of the families outside Manchester Crown Court after Letby was found guilty of seven murders and six attempted murders.
They said: “Words cannot effectively explain how we are feeling at this moment in time. We are quite simply stunned.
“To lose a baby is a heart-breaking experience that no parent should ever have to go through. But to lose a baby or to have a baby harmed in these particular circumstances is unimaginable.
“Over the last seven or eight years the families had been through a “long, torturous and emotional journey”.
