Mother of Baby A (murdered June 8, 2015) and B (victim of attempted murder between June 8 and 11, 2015)
The mother of Baby A and Baby B said in a statement read in court that 2015 “was going to be the best year of our lives” and “everything was perfect.”
“We were never able to hold our little boy while he was alive because you took him away,” the statement said.
“What should have been the happiest time of our lives has become our worst nightmare.”
“We are so thankful that we had this fear for Child B because it saved her life,” the statement said, adding that after Child A’s death, they made sure that a family member was always there to help side of her daughter.
“We didn’t know you were waiting for us to go so you could attack the only thing that gave us a reason to live.”
She said there will always be a “gaping hole” where her son should be.
“We hope you live a very long life and spend every single day suffering for what you did.”
She added, “You thought it was your right to play god with our children’s lives.”
Mother of Baby C (murdered June 14, 2015)
Child C’s mother broke down in tears as she read her heartbreaking testimony to the court, but bravely continued to speak in front of the empty dock.
Describing the “overwhelming emotion” she felt upon holding her son for the first time, she said, “It was like nothing I had ever experienced before.”
“My lively little boy, my firstborn, my son.”
“The trauma of that night will haunt us all until the day we die.” Knowing now that his killer was watching us…was like something out of a horror story.”
She said she blames herself for his death and for not protecting him: “If I hadn’t gone to bed that night, he might still be here.”
She added, “I’m thinking about what his voice might have sounded like… who he might have been.”
She said she would open his memory box in the days following her son’s death and wear his footprints around her neck to feel close to him.
But after Letby’s arrest, those memorabilia that Letby helped create felt “tainted.”
She said she is now able to wear these memorabilia for the first time in five years: “I know they represent the love I have for my son and I will not let evil take that from me.” They represent justice and truth.”
She became emotional but continued to read to the court, saying no verdict Letby received could ever compare to what she went through.
She concluded by telling Letby, citing a note found at her home after her arrest, “In your own words, you did this, you’re evil.”
Mother of Baby D (murdered June 22, 2015)
Child D’s mother then appealed to the court. The judge was obviously emotional and reminded her to take the time to talk.
She began by saying that Letby’s “evil entitlement and abuse of her role as a trusted nurse is really a scandal.”
“Lucy Letby, you failed God and our plans.” [Child D].’
She added, “Those lives you weren’t allowed to take,” and said her heart “shattered into a thousand pieces” when her daughter died.
After Child D died, they wanted him to donate an organ – another baby needed a heart – but due to the autopsy, that wasn’t possible. That, she said, broke her heart again.
Child D’s funeral took place the day before her due date.
“These weeks were particularly difficult.
“My arms, my heart, my life all felt so painfully empty.”
“I missed Child D so much I just wanted to smell her and cuddle her.”
She said she wondered if she had done something wrong, missed something, or “abandoned her daughter.”
She then went on to detail her struggle for justice, desperate for answers about what had happened.
“I love being a mom, but at the same time I struggle with grief and depression.” “I’ve become disconnected from a lot of the people around me,” she said.
“My marriage is also marked by all the hurdles we’ve been through. “First we were a rock in each other’s surf… it was hard to stay strong together.”
Child D’s mother then described the process. Because she was a witness for the prosecution, she was not allowed to be present at the beginning of the prosecution, but her husband appeared in court every day.
“It felt intrusive to expose Child D’s short life to the public,” she said.
She described explaining to her son – who was born a year after Child D’s death – what had happened to his sister.
But he grew scared, fearing that the person “who hurt Child D” would escape from prison and hurt his cousins.
“We wanted justice for Child D and that day has come.”
She said management at the Countess of Chester Hospital told her her child’s death was “not a criminal matter”.
She said after her baby died, she asked for her medical records and met with doctors and hospital management.
She said: “We hired a lawyer and I wanted the police involved.” At that point I was told that this was not a criminal matter so the police were out of the question.”
A week before the baby was scheduled to be examined, she was told someone needed to be arrested, she said.
She added: “Thank God the police have started their investigation.”
She told the court, “Lucy Letby had an opportunity to say something to all of us, the victims’ parents, and she only had one word – ‘unimaginable’.”
“Her vicious entitlement and abuse of her role as a trusted nurse is scandalous.” Lucy Letby. You failed God and His plans for (Child D). You even called it fate. You clearly had no connection to God.”
She added: “We have yet to officially announce the death of (Child D) and this could not be done until the cause of death was determined.”
“Eight years after the birth of our daughter, going to the registry office and declaring the death will be another difficult task.
“We wanted justice for (Child D) and that day has come.”
Mother of Baby E (murdered August 4, 2015) and Baby F (victim of attempted murder August 5, 2015)
When the mother of children E and F addressed the court, her voice was full of emotion, but she spoke clearly.
She said that “our dreams came true” when their babies were born, that the family was complete then, but that “our world shattered when we discovered the evil disguised as a caring nurse.”
After her first son died and her second son was unwell, she cried “not again.”
Years later, when they found out Letby was a killer, she said, “We felt betrayed, deceived and once again completely heartbroken.”
She fought back tears as she described openly mourning in front of Letby as Letby bathed her son for the last time and dressed him in a woolen dress.
“He was buried in this dress, a gift from the unit Lucy chose,” she recalls, adding that not a day goes by that she doesn’t regret that decision.
The boys were the result of multiple rounds of IVF, with the family coming to terms with the fact that they might never have children.
“Lucy was aware of our journey and willfully inflicted significant harm and cruelty on our boys,” she said.
“No child in the world was more desirable than her.”
Her son now has complex learning disabilities, which she believes are a direct result of his insulin poisoning.
“Nothing can change what has happened to us, we are serving a life sentence for Lucy’s crimes.”
She condemned Letby for refusing to leave her cell.
“I want to thank Lucy for taking a stand and showing the court what she really is like when the ‘nice Lucy’ mask slips off.”
“It was honestly the best thing she could have done to make sure our boys got the justice they deserve.”
She added: “Even in these final days of the trial she has been trying to get things under control. The disrespect she showed to the families and to the court shows what kind of person she is.”
“We’ve been in court day after day, but she decides she’s had enough and stays in her cell, just one last act of coward’s malice.”
She said: “We had a nightmare, but for me it ends today.” I refuse to wake up with the first thought that something could happen to my boys.
“Lucy is no longer in control of our lives.”
‘She has no power or importance in anyone’s life.’ She is nothing.’
The woman said her surviving son had been diagnosed with severe learning disabilities “which we believe are due to intoxication with a large amount of insulin.”
She said, “I never allow him to be alone with medical professionals.”
Father of Baby G (twice victim of attempted murder on September 7 & 21, 2015)
In his testimony, read to the tearful court, he detailed all of the life experiences his daughter would never enjoy because of Letby’s viciousness, such as getting her first kiss from a boyfriend or getting married.
Their daughter was the result of artificial insemination, which had cost the family abroad at great expense, and parents initially feared she had miscarried at an early age.
Child G remained disabled after the seizures – is registered as blind, has no food by mouth (and is tube-fed) and suffers from progressive scoliosis which has caused her spine to curve.
This caused her parents to “scare” them, which is why they have not had any more children and have not returned to use the remaining embryos at an IVF clinic abroad.
“We were afraid of having another disabled baby,” he said in his statement.
Her mother has a hard time trusting people who work in hospitals, but they need nurses to visit and support them every week.
He said, “What if child G survives us?” Who will take care of her then?
“Everything feels like a constant struggle just to have the essentials that Kid G needs in his daily life.”
He said his daughter would “never stay at a best friend’s house or go to high school and graduate.” She will never have a first kiss, have a boyfriend, or get married.
He added, “She will always be in her chair.”
He described the beginning of her life as a premature baby as a “bumpy road”.
He said, “Every day I sat there and prayed.” I would pray for God to save her. He has. He saved her, but the devil found her.’
Mother of Baby I (murdered October 23, 2015)
“I don’t think we will ever get over the fact that our daughter was tortured until she could no longer resist and that everything she has been through in her short life was done on purpose by someone to protect and help her should come back.’ Home where she belonged.’
She described the tremendous impact her daughter’s death had on her and her husband.
The woman said: “We were both completely devastated that someone could do something so nasty to our precious little girl and it has had a massive impact on our family to this day.”
“We dug for years to find answers to what had happened and over the years we have found ourselves in very dark places mentally.”
She said: “(Her husband) wished he were dead, he wished it was he who died and not (child I).”
The wife said, “When they gave us (child I) we never wanted to let her go, we held her so tight that she was our beautiful little princess and I can’t even begin to explain the pain.” When we lost her , part of us died with her.”
She said that before her baby’s collapse, she was “like a carried baby, nursing the whole bottle, sitting on my knees, very attentive, smiling a lot and never crying.” “She was a very happy little girl .”
But a week later everything had changed.
She described her daughter as “swollen and in pain – her eyes looked very sad”.
The night my child died they were told their daughter might be home for Christmas – she then suffered a fatal collapse.
Father of Baby L (victim of attempted murder on April 9, 2016) and Baby M (victim of attempted murder on April 9, 2016)
The father of babies L and M also filed a statement, telling the court that one day, as he was attending the hearing, Letby stared at him and made him so uncomfortable that he had to change places.
Letby tried to murder his two twins.
Child L was poisoned with insulin and his brother M was harmed by injecting air into his bloodstream.
The father said: “There was one day when I was at the trial and the bleachers were full and I was sitting in Lucy Letby’s line of sight and she kept looking over at me.”
“It made me feel quite uncomfortable and restless and I had to change clothes in the afternoon so I was out of sight.”
He said the image of his son’s breakdown was “etched in his memory forever” and that the stress and tension was unbearable at times.
He said, “Initially the doctors told us that the entire events that took place around my children in 2016 were normal for premature babies and we believed what the doctors told us at the time.” We didn’t know that for about a year after her birth, the police would knock on the door and bring the news that it could be an attempted murder.
He said he was prescribed anti-depressants but added: “Even though they have helped, as a parent they can never take away the feelings I have knowing now what really happened at the Countess of Chester in 2016, and that’s not enough.’ It’ll get easier to deal with over time.’
Mother of Baby N (victim of attempted murder on June 3, 2016)
A statement was read from child N’s mother – she described how her family felt “complete” on learning she was expecting him.
Their son was born with hemophilia, but they had expected to bring him home when Letby struck and used his illness as a cover for their attempted murder.
“The day we were called into the neonatal unit was the worst day of our lives,” she said, describing entering the chaos in the room.
“To see our little baby fighting for his life…not knowing if he was going to live or die.”
“I honestly knew Child N was intentionally hurt,” she said, calling it a “maternal instinct.”
“I kept wondering why our healthy little boy was fine one minute and the next minute he was bleeding from the mouth and needed CPR.”
She no longer trusts anyone to care for her son, saying, “Our trust is broken.”
She added: “I think there was only one occasion where [my husband and I] have gone out alone since child N was born.’
They wanted him to be homeschooled because their faith in people in positions of trust is totally broken.
“We know we’re showering him with love and affection because we don’t want him to be sad and upset,” she added.
They had talked about having another baby, but the possibility of having to return to the neonatal unit put them off.
Mother of triplets boys O and P (murdered by Letby on June 23 & 24, 2016)
The court was played a pre-recorded video testimony of the mother of triplets O and P, both of whom were murdered by Letby. She said she did not feel able to take the witness stand today.
“I remember putting all my trust in the medical experts,” she said.
After the first death, she says, “I was in a state of utter shock and disbelief.”
Then a second triplet fell ill.
“I had a horrible feeling it was going to happen again,” she said, telling the court that she blames herself because she believed she passed a disease on to the boys and infected them.
After two of her sons died, she recalled having had a “terrible feeling” that her third son would be next. He was transferred to another hospital.
“I only have one photo of me holding all three boys together,” she said.
“It was Lucy Letby who dressed Child P after his death and took his footprints which were kept in a keepsake box,” she said.
She says the nurse was heartbroken, and she became emotional remembering how she thanked the killer for his help. She added, “She destroyed our lives.”
She said she continues to be haunted by “vivid images” from the period and lives in “constant fear” that something might happen to her children.
Of the trial, she said, “The atmosphere in the courtroom was extremely harrowing.” “It was the first time I’ve seen Lucy Letby since 2016.”
She said she was seated behind a monitor so she had no direct line of sight and that it was difficult to listen to the evidence.
She added: “Fighting with the police investigation has made the past few years unbearable.”
father of boys O and P
The father of murdered triplets O and P cried during much of his recorded video statement as he recalled how his three sons were described as “miracle babies” at the Countess of Chester’s hospital.
He initially said the family had been informed [my wife] was unable to have children due to problems with her ovaries.
They had a healthy child and his wife later miscarried.
Then they found out they were having triplets – something that was extremely rare.
“We were well known to the Countess, the staff called the pregnancy a ‘miracle’.”
When their sons were born, “we were so amazed at how well the boys were doing and said how identical they were that it was almost impossible to tell them apart.”
Then child O collapsed.
Holding back tears, the father said, “I noticed the color [Child O’s] The skin changed quickly, it didn’t look normal to the naked eye, it was horrible to look at, and it’s an image I’ll never forget. Deep down I knew it wasn’t going to end well.
‘[Child O] received a blessing from the priest and was quickly baptized.
‘moments later, [he] was gone.
“I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart, no words could describe how I felt.”
“I kept wishing it had happened to me and would have loved to have taken his place at the time.”
The hospital, he said, did not provide an explanation for the incident.
He said it was “traumatic” dressing her son after his death.
Wiping away tears, he said, “I was upset, but I could see how hurt.” [the mother] was. I felt useless and blamed myself.’
He recalled that child P collapsed the day after child O died.
“The situation escalated and I was concerned by the drama and panic that was unfolding in the room. When the doctors arrived, I knew it was serious.
“The whole ordeal was a repeat of the previous day, I knew it wasn’t going to end well.” I thought we were going down the same path as before [Child O].’
His wife continued to blame herself.
All they could think of was to get their third son out of the Countess of Chester and say, “He wasn’t safe there.” His wife was able to be discharged early in a wheelchair to move to another hospital with her son.
He then criticized the Countess for not giving them any support after the death of her sons.
He said: “We received no advice or support, after losing the boys I didn’t know how to handle the situation or what to say to our eldest child, we had no guidance for the siblings.”
“There was no contact at all from the Countess, our extended family kindly offered to collect the memorial boxes but this was not acceptable with the Countess, the hospital wanted the immediate family to collect which made us very upset and angry as we did never did.’ had any intentions of returning.’
His statement added: “Lucy Letby destroyed our lives.”
“The anger and hatred I hold towards her will never go away.”
“It destroyed me as a man and as a father.”
The man wiped away tears and was visibly dismayed in the recording as he said: “The constant pressure that the process puts on us has been immense and difficult to describe.”
“Even after the trial is over, it will continue to haunt us and always impact our lives.”