Lucy Letby: Mother of murdered baby still hasn’t declared child’s death - 'We wanted justice'
The mother of one of the babies killed by nurse Lucy Letby has said her child can only now be officially declared dead - eight years after her murder.
Letby, 33, who denied all charges against her, was convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to kill six more while working in the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit between 2015 and 2016.
On Monday she was sentenced to life in prison.
The mother of Child D told Manchester Crown Court: “Lucy Letby had a chance to say something to us all, parents of the victims, and she had only one word – ‘unimaginable’.
“Her wicked sense of entitlement and abuse of her role as a trusted nurse is a scandal.
"Lucy Letby. You failed God and the plans he had for (Child D). You even called it fate. You were clearly disconnected with God.”
She said after her baby’s death she asked for her medical notes and met with doctors and management from the Countess of Chester Hospital.
She said: “We got a solicitor and I wanted the police involved. At that stage I was told this was not a criminal matter so the police was out of the question.”
The grieving mother said that just one week before the baby’s inquest was due to take place she was told police were due to arrest someone.
She added: “Thank God the police started their investigation.”
The mother of Child D added: “We still have (Child D’s) death to declare officially and this could not be done until the cause of death had been agreed.
“This is going to be another difficult thing to do, going to the registrar and declaring our daughter’s death eight years after her birth.
“We wanted justice for (Child D) and that day has come.”
A court order prevents the identities of the children attacked by Letby being reported, or their families, meaning they were referred to throughout the case by a letter of the alphabet.
Child D, a baby girl, was born by caesarean section more than 60 hours after her mother’s waters broke and shortly after, on the afternoon of June 20 2015, became "floppy" in her father’s arms.
She responded well to treatment in the neonatal but then deteriorated and collapsed three times in the early hours of 22 June 2015. On the final occasion medics couldn’t resuscitate her.
It was alleged that the girl was murdered by Letby injecting air into her bloodstream.
Letby later told police she could not explain why she had searched on Facebook for Child D's parents in the aftermath of her death.
The former nurse, who is the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history, was told by the sentencing judge there was a “malevolence bordering on sadism in your actions” for which “you have no remorse”.
Mr Justice Goss handed her a whole-life order at Manchester Crown Court on Monday, making her only the fourth woman in UK history to be told she will never be released from prison.
Watch: The victims of Lucy Letby, a full statement from their parents
