Lucy Letby, the British neonatal nurse convicted of killing seven infants and attempting to k!ll six others in 2015 and 2016, has been sentenced to life in prison.
On Monday, Letby, 33, was handed a whole-life sentence by Judge Justice Goss, according to a statement from the Crown Prosecution Service.
“Because the seriousness of your offenses is exceptionally high, I direct that the early release provisions do not apply,” Goss told the court in a video shared by the BBC. “The order of the court therefore is whole life order on each and every offense and you will spend the rest of your life in prison.”
On Friday, Letby had been found guilty on 14 of a possible 22 counts that she faced after a 10-month trial in Manchester Crown Court. The jury was deadlocked on the attempted murder of four other babies. She had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Letby refused to appear in court for her sentencing. The judge said the former neonatal nurse had shown no remorse for her crimes and had waged a “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable of children.”
Letby had worked as a nurse in the neonatal ward of Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, England.
In a statement obtained by PEOPLE following her sentencing, Pascale Jones of the Crown Prosecution Service said that Letby’s sentence means “she will never again be able to inflict the suffering she did while working as a neonatal nurse.”
“She has rightly been brought to justice by the courts,” Jones continued. “My thoughts remain with the families of the victims who have demonstrated enormous strength in the face of extraordinary suffering. I hope that the trial has brought answers which had long eluded them.”
Letby even wrote a sympathy card to one of the families of a girl that she k!lled and apologized for not being able to attend the funeral.
“There are no words to make this time any easier,” Letby wrote. “It was a real privilege to care for [the child] and get to know you as a family — a family who always put [child] first and did everything possible for her. She will always be part of your lives and we will never forget her. Thinking of you today and always.”
