Why was Lucy Letby allowed to inflict one last wound on her victims?

Letting the killer nurse hide in her cell rather than face bereaved families in court was a disgrace – and a final act of wickedness, writes John Wright

A court sketch of Lucy Letby (centre) listening to the verdicts being read at Manchester Crown Court (PA)

The headline, “Nurse found guilty of murdering seven babies” should have read, “Nurse found guilty of murdering seven babies sentenced while absent” – the whole truth.

Yes, the waiting public needed to know that a murderer had been rightly found guilty of her crimes, yet Letby was not in court today to hear her sentencing. Why not? Why was she allowed to inflict one last wound on the families of the babies she murdered?

Some 110 hours, the jury deliberated. Letting the killer nurse hide in her cell rather than face bereaved families in court was a disgrace – and a final act of wickedness.