Nurse Lucy Letby, who was unmasked as the UK’s most prolific child serial killer in modern times, has been given a whole-life sentence.

The 33-year-old was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six other infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Letby deliberately injected babies with air, force fed others milk and poisoned two of the infants with insulin.

She refused to appear in the dock for her sentencing hearing.

Letby will face the rest of her life behind bars, becoming only the fourth woman in UK history to receive such a sentence.

Whole-life orders are the most severe punishment available in the country’s criminal justice system and are reserved for those who commit the most heinous crimes.

Mr Justice Goss said the “cruelty and calculation” of Letby’s actions were “truly horrific”.

“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,” he said.

Source: BBC