DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Letby's final insult to grieving families

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Letby’s final insult to grieving families

‘I think about what his voice would have sounded like. What he would have looked like now. Who he would have been.’

In three heartbreaking sentences, the tearful mother of one of the babies killed by Lucy Letby conveys the depth of loss and bereavement caused by the actions of the depraved killer nurse.

This was the day the families gave their impact statements at Manchester Crown Court, after Letby’s convictions for the murder of seven premature babies and attempted murder of six more in the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester hospital.

Their harrowing testimony, which reduced court officials and police officers to tears, spoke of their agony, rage, and sheer incomprehension that someone charged with protecting such vulnerable infants could be so sadistically evil.

Some of the babies who survived still carry the malign legacy of Letby’s attempts to kill them, having suffered irreversible brain injury after she injected them with air or insulin.

Lucy Letby wasn’t there to hear first-hand from those whose lives she so cruelly devastated 

One, known as Child G, is quadriplegic, registered blind, nil by mouth, has cerebral palsy and needs major surgery to treat progressive curvature of the spine.

In a statement read to the court, her father told how he prayed every day that God would save her life, adding: ‘He did save her, but the Devil found her.’

But Letby wasn’t there to hear first-hand from those whose lives she so cruelly devastated, or indeed listen as the judge sentenced her to 14 whole-life terms.

In a last act of cowardice, she remained in her cell, depriving families of the chance to look her in the eye as they told their stories and justice was meted out.

Although her presence could not have assuaged their grief, it would at least have brought some degree of closure. The Government has been promising a law to compel criminals to attend court for sentencing. It can’t come too soon.

But this case was also about inept NHS managers who refused to believe they were harbouring a baby-killer, even after a string of clinicians warned that they could be.

Understandably, the families want a full-blown statutory inquiry with powers to force witnesses to testify. But we know from bitter experience that they take time and often don’t lead to the necessary reforms.

What is needed here is a rapid, focused assessment of how NHS command structures failed so miserably to protect highly vulnerable patients.

Those responsible must be brought to account and a new managerial system created to ensure such an outrage is never repeated.

The first requirement is that whistleblowers, especially experienced clinicians, should be listened to – not ordered to keep their suspicions to themselves.

Courting scandal

Is it mere coincidence that the Metropolitan Police announced no action would be taken against the King’s former close aide Michael Fawcett over ‘cash for honours’ allegations on the same day Lucy Letby was sentenced?

The Fawcett inquiry was an embarrassment to Scotland Yard, so ditching it on a day when the media’s attention was distracted might have been an attempt to minimise criticism.

But the cloak of controversy still hangs over Mr Fawcett, as it has done for years.

Is it mere coincidence that the Metropolitan Police announced no action would be taken against the King’s former close aide Michael Fawcett (pictured together in 2021) over ‘cash for honours’ allegations on the same day Lucy Letby was sentenced?

There have been allegations of selling royal gifts, of selling access to the then Prince of Wales, and most recently of offering a KBE to a Saudi businessman who donated £1.5million to royal charities.

The monarchy’s credibility relies on the sovereign – and those in his employ – being above suspicion on matters of financial probity. For this reason, the King and Mr Fawcett must surely now part company for good.

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