Lucy Letby’s parents have failed to turn up to see their daughter sentenced after she was confirmed as the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history.
The nurse’s parents, Susan, 63, and John, 77, were constantly present during her ten-month trial at Manchester Crown Court and were present every day.
But they did not attend the final verdicts last Friday and again failed to show up for the sentencing hearing this morning as she is serving a life sentence.
Mr and Mrs Letby were so determined to hear all the evidence against their daughter that they moved to Manchester from their home in Hereford.
But earlier last week, Ms Letby broke down in court as the guilty verdicts began to be answered, exclaiming: ‘You can’t be serious. This can’t be right.’
John and Susan Letby, the parents of nurse Lucy Letby, arrive at Manchester Crown Court last Thursday (Aug 17, 2023) – the last time they were in court for the case
Lucy Letby refused to return to the wharf last week as the jury continued to make verdicts
Lucy Letby’s parents John and Susan Letby arrive at Manchester Crown Court last Thursday
Lucy Letby is pictured as a child (left) and after graduating (right) in December 2011, which her parents marked with an announcement in their local newspaper, the Hereford Times
Last week, Letby refused to return to the dock because the jury continued to repeat verdicts and the court was told she did not want to participate in her sentencing hearing and would not watch the hearing via video link from prison.
She again refused to attend court today despite being taken there in a prison van.
The nurse killed seven babies and attempted to kill six more while working in the neonatal ward at Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.
Investigators suspect that Letby had told her parents few details about the crimes she was accused of before it was laid before them in court.
A source told the Daily Mail last week that Letby’s mother was distraught when she was arrested in 2018.
At the time of Letby’s arrest, her parents’ neighbors told The Times that the family was devastated.
One of them is said to have said, ‘She’s an only child. Need I say more? I just feel so much for them. I feel so helpless that there’s nothing we can do.’
Retail boss John and Susan, a bookkeeper, raised Letby as an only child in a 1930s semi-detached house on a cul-de-sac.
They still live in the same house – which they bought shortly after they got married – and holiday in Torquay three times a year, taking Letby with them until she was arrested in July 2018.
There is nothing to indicate that Mr. and Mrs. Letby were anything but caring parents who showered their daughter with love from the moment she was born – five months after they married in July 1989.
Growing up, Letby was a “delight” to her parents, the neighbors recalled.
She had a part-time job at WH Smith in town and her parents were extremely proud when she was the first in their family to go to college.
May 2, 2013 — John and Susan Letby leave Manchester Crown Court after Letby testifies
11th November 2022 – John and Susan Letby at Manchester Crown Court as the trial continues
4 October 2022: John and Susan Letby at Manchester Crown Court just before her trial began
Lucy Letby listens to the verdicts to be read at Manchester Crown Court on August 11
When she graduated, they marked her graduation, in December 2011, with an announcement in their local newspaper, the Hereford Times.
Alongside a photo of her wearing a mortarboard and holding her diploma, they wrote: ‘Letby Lucy BSc Hons in Child Nursing. We are so proud of you after all your hard work. Love mom and dad.”
A similar announcement, with an accompanying photo of Letby as a young child, was also placed in the same newspaper to mark her 21st birthday.
But text messages Letby exchanged with colleagues revealed that she sometimes felt smothered by her mother and father and felt guilty about moving. She explained that they missed her and hated her living alone.
She seemed to speak or text them every day, describing them as “suffocating at times.” She told a doctor friend who was considering moving to New Zealand that she could never do that because it would “completely devastate” them.
“It’s hard enough being away from me right now and it’s only 100 miles,” she said.
In a message to another friend, she wrote: ‘My parents are extremely worried about anything and everything, they hate that I live alone etc.
“I feel bad because I know it’s really hard for them, especially being an only child, and they mean well, just feeling a little suffocating at times and constantly feeling guilty.”
Ms Letby sometimes burst into tears in the courtroom during the trial and appeared anxious during intermissions when her daughter was going through particularly difficult periods of questioning by the prosecution.
When the guilty verdicts were handed down, Mrs Letby burst into a series of anguished sobs that continued even after she had left the court.
WATCH THE MAIL’S FULL LUCY LETBY DOCUMENTARY HERE