"You Will Spend the Rest of Your Life in Prison": Mr Justice Goss Sentences Lucy Letby, Manchester Crown Court, August 21, 2023

Name: "You Will Spend the Rest of Your Life in Prison": Mr Justice Goss Sentences Lucy Letby, Manchester Crown Court, August 21, 2023
Uploaded: 2023-08-21T00:00:00Z
Duration: 13 min 41 s
Description: With Letby refusing to come into court, Mr Justice Goss delivers his filmed sentencing remarks to an empty dock and imposes a whole life order on each of 14 counts.

With Letby refusing to come into court, Mr Justice Goss delivers his filmed sentencing remarks to an empty dock and imposes a whole life order on each of 14 counts.

Subject: Lucy Letby
Recorded: August 21, 2023
Runtime: 13:41

Content warning: Concerns the murder and attempted murder of newborn and premature babies in a hospital neonatal unit; no graphic medical detail in the broadcast extract.

The Interview

This is not an interview, and Lucy Letby does not appear. It is a 13-minute-41-second edited recording of Mr Justice Goss delivering his sentencing remarks in open court at Manchester Crown Court on August 21, 2023, posted the same day by Sky News. Under the rules that allow cameras in English Crown Courts for sentencing, only the judge is filmed. Letby had refused to come into court, and the judge opens by saying he must sentence her in her absence.

Historical Context

Lucy Letby worked as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, England. A police investigation into a rise in deaths and collapses on the hospital's neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016 led to her arrest in 2018; she was arrested again in 2019 and charged in 2020. Her trial at Manchester Crown Court, before Mr Justice Goss, opened in October 2022. On August 18, 2023, the jury convicted her of seven murders and of seven attempted murders involving six babies; she was acquitted of two attempted murders, and the jury could not reach verdicts on six further counts.

Circumstances

Since 2020, English law has allowed a Crown Court judge's sentencing remarks to be filmed and broadcast, with copyright in the recording held by the Crown. Letby, who had also stayed out of court for the final verdicts, refused to attend the sentence hearing. The judge directed that she be given a transcript of his remarks and copies of the victim personal statements read in court that morning. Sky News's version omits the judge's account of the individual babies, which it says was cut to comply with reporting restrictions; the babies are referred to only by letters.

What the Interview Covers

The judge describes Letby as an intelligent, outwardly conscientious and well-regarded nurse who used that trust to harm babies "without arousing suspicion for some time," and calls her claim that she never meant to hurt a baby "but one of the many lies you were found to have told." He finds "premeditation, calculation and cunning," the targeting of twins and triplets, falsified records, and inappropriate remarks to grieving parents. He describes the handover sheets she kept "as morbid records," her repeated Facebook searches for the babies' parents, and the note found in her home in 2018 with the phrases "The world is better off without me" and "I am evil, I did this." He speaks of the impact on the families, finds "a deep malevolence bordering on sadism," says she has no remorse and that there are no mitigating factors, and imposes life imprisonment with a whole life order on each of the 14 counts: "you will spend the rest of your life in prison."

What Makes the Recording Significant

It is the court's own statement of its findings, in the judge's voice, at one of the most prominent uses of filmed Crown Court sentencing since the 2020 Order, delivered to an empty dock.

Archival Importance

An official court recording, not a news package: the only voice is the judge's. It is a primary record of how the court characterized the case at sentencing, which matters all the more because the convictions are now under challenge.

Important Caveats

Letby is not heard or seen. The video is edited: the judge's remarks on the individual babies are omitted, and the page should not call it the full remarks. Letby has always denied the offenses. Her convictions stand: the Court of Appeal refused permission to appeal in May 2024 and refused a further application, concerning her July 2024 retrial conviction, in October 2024. In early February 2025, an international panel of medical experts chaired by Dr Shoo Lee said it found no medical evidence of deliberate harm ("did not find any murders"), and her lawyers applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission on February 4, 2025; no CCRC decision has been reported in the sources checked (Wikipedia, read 2026-10-11). In July 2024 she was convicted at a retrial of a further attempted murder and received a 15th whole life order, after this recording. In July 2025 three former senior hospital managers were arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter; on January 20, 2026, the Crown Prosecution Service announced no further charges against Letby; and the Thirlwall Inquiry's report, published on September 15, 2026, found a "complete failure" to prevent babies being harmed and was critical of Letby, while the CCRC was still assessing her application. Page copy should present her as convicted, with the pending CCRC application noted, and should not name any baby, parent or surviving child.

Mr Justice Goss: The defendant, Lucy Letby, has refused to attend court for this sentence hearing. Accordingly, I have to sentence her in her absence. I shall deliver the sentencing remarks as if she was present to hear them, and I direct that she is provided with a transcript of my remarks and copies of the victim personal statements read to the court.

Mr Justice Goss: Lucy Letby, over a period of almost 13 months between June 2015 and June 2016, when in your mid-20s and employed as a neonatal nurse in the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, with specialist training in intensive care, you murdered seven babies and attempted to murder six others, in the case of one of them trying on separate occasions two weeks apart to murder her. You are now to be sentenced for your crimes. I order payment of the statutory surcharge in the appropriate amount.

Mr Justice Goss: 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. The babies you harmed were born prematurely, and some were at risk of not surviving. But in each case, you deliberately harmed them, intending to kill them. In your evidence, you said that hurting a baby is completely against everything that being a nurse is, as indeed it should be. You also claimed you never did anything that was meant to hurt a baby, and only ever did your best to care for them. That was but one of the many lies you were found to have told in this case.

Mr Justice Goss: There is no doubt that you are intelligent and outwardly were a very conscientious, hard-working, knowledgeable, confident and professional nurse, which enabled you repeatedly to harm babies on the unit without arousing suspicion for some time. You prided yourself in your competence. Your fellow neonatal nurses spoke very highly of you, and several of them became your close friends. Having started as a band five nurse at the Countess of Chester in 2012, you became a mentor to student nurses, and in the spring of 2015 gained the qualification that enabled you to care for the sickest babies on the units, on the unit, or those requiring the most intensive care. You relished being in the intensive care nursery. Your messages to colleagues revealed an interest in babies that were on or were coming to the unit who had uncommon medical conditions.

Mr Justice Goss: The methods you employed to carry out your murderous intent were only revealed by the later detailed investigation into the events of and surrounding the collapses and deaths of the babies, which commenced in 2018. There was premeditation, calculation and cunning in your actions. You specifically targeted twins and, latterly, triplets. Some babies were healthy. Others had medical issues of which you were aware. The great majority of your victims suffered acute pain as a result of what you did to them. They all fought for survival. Some, sadly, struggled in vain and died.

Mr Justice Goss: You used a number of different ways to try to kill them, thereby misleading clinicians into believing the collapses had or might have had a natural cause, or a consequence of a developing medical condition. You took opportunities to harm babies when staff were in breaks or away from babies. On some occasions, you falsified records to indicate there were signs of a deterioration before a collapse occurred. You knew that the last thing anyone working in the unit would or did think was that someone caring for the babies was deliberately harming them.

Mr Justice Goss: As the number of unexpected and unexplained collapses and deaths escalated, senior doctors started to think the unthinkable and consider the possibility that someone was, in fact, deliberately harming the babies. And you were identified as the common factor. You had a detached enthusiasm for the resuscitations and what followed. You endeavored to impress colleagues and clinicians, and sought reassurance from them as to your competence and skills, and would message others to the effect that no one was at fault. On occasions, you cruelly and callously made inappropriate remarks to some of the grieving parents at the time of, or in the immediate aftermath of, a death.

Mr Justice Goss: When the homes of both you and your parents were searched, confidential documents relating to babies, including handover and resuscitation sheets and notes and blood gas readings, were found. And there were entries in a diary recording relevant events. Handover sheets relating to all but the first four of the babies had been taken from the unit and kept by you. I am satisfied you started to keep these documents after those initial offenses in June 2015, as morbid records of the dreadful events surrounding the collapses of your victims and what you had done to them.

Mr Justice Goss: You had a fascination with the babies and their families, which [unclear: "extended" / "she extended"] to making repeated searches on Facebook for their parents, sometimes immediately following the events and on occasions much later. A piece of paper with dense writing on both sides, setting out your thoughts and feelings, was found in the first search of your home in 2018. Amongst the phrases you wrote were "The world is better off without me" and "I am evil, I did this."

Mr Justice Goss: The impact of your crimes has been immense, as disclosed by the deeply moving personal statements that have been read to the court this morning. The lives of newborn or relatively newborn babies were ended almost as soon as they began, and lifelong harm has been caused, all in horrific circumstances. Loving parents have been robbed of their cherished children, and others have to live with the physical and mental consequences of your actions. Siblings have been deprived of brothers and sisters. You have caused deep psychological trauma, brought enduring grief and feelings of guilt, caused strains in relationships and [unclear: "disruptions the lives" / "disruption to the lives"] of all the families of all your victims.

Mr Justice Goss: It is no part of my function to reach conclusions as to the underlying reason or reasons for your actions, nor could I, for they are known only to you. I must pass appropriate sentences according to law, addressing the seriousness of your offenses. The cruelty and calculation of your actions were truly horrific. [Broadcast edit at about 08:58, directly after "truly horrific" (located by a fact-check second machine pass): the judge's remarks on the individual babies are not included in this video, which its uploader says "has been edited to comply with reporting restrictions." The Channel 4 News upload of the same footage (V418) has "the facts of which I now describe briefly" after "offenses" at this point.]

Mr Justice Goss: After these last collapses and deaths, you were suspended from nursing duties, but con... but pursued complaints of being treated unfairly. When your home was later searched, as well as your 2016 diary, which contained references to long days on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of June, and to J, E and M respectively, there were handover sheets over that period with resuscitation notes written on the back, all, I have no doubt, being records that you kept to remind you of the details of the consequences of what you had done to those children.

Mr Justice Goss: For the offense of murder, the sentence is fixed by law and is imprisonment for life. You are now 33 years of age and were over 21 when you committed the offenses. Pursuant to the relevant prevailing statutory regime, by having regard to Schedule 21 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003, I have to determine whether the seriousness of the offenses of murder, individually or in combination, is so exceptionally high that I should not make a minimum term order and you should spend the rest of your life in prison. For offenses of attempted murder, whole life sentences of imprisonment are reserved for wholly exceptional cases.

Mr Justice Goss: Over a period of just under 13 months, you killed seven fragile babies and attempted to kill six others. Some of your victims were only a day or a few days old. All were extremely vulnerable. They were in a hospital where others were striving to provide them with dedicated medical and nursing care. By their nature and number, such murders and attempted murders by a neonatal nurse entrusted to care for them are offenses of very exceptional seriousness. The damaging impact of your actions on others working at that hospital, including those who numbered you as a friend, betraying their trust and creating upset and suspicion, as well as eroding confidence in clinicians and nurses generally, aggravates their seriousness.

Mr Justice Goss: This was a cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable of children, knowing that your actions were causing significant physical suffering and would cause untold mental suffering. You created situations so that collapses, or causes of collapses, would not be obvious or associated with you. You removed and retained confidential records of events relating to your crimes and checked up on bereaved parents. There was a deep malevolence bordering on sadism in your actions. During the course of this trial you have coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing and sought to attribute some fault to others. You have no remorse. There are no mitigating factors.

Mr Justice Goss: In their totality, the offenses of murder and attempted murder were of exceptionally high seriousness, and just punishment according to law requires a whole life order. Lucy Letby, on each of the seven offenses of murder and the seven offenses of attempted murder, I sentence you to imprisonment for life. Because the seriousness of your offenses is exceptionally high, I direct that the early release provisions do not apply. The order of the court therefore is a whole life order on each and every offense, and you will spend the rest of your life in prison. [13:40 to 13:41: no speech.] ---