Loose Women’s Ruth Langford chokes back tears as she discusses killer nurse Lucy Letby – ahead of her being sentenced to life in prison
An emotional Ruth Langford was forced to choke back tears when discussing killer nurse Lucy Letby during Monday’s Loose Women.
The host, 63, was reading about the murderer’s refusal to attend court and listen to the families of the seven babies she killed’s impact statements.
Ruth had tears in her eyes as she introduced the discussion to her fellow panelists explaining how Lucy would not leave her cell to appear in the dock.
Despite broadcaster’s voice cracked when reading the words ‘babies who she killed’ she managed to regain her composure and carry on with the show.
Lucy Letby will die behind bars after a judge sentenced her to a whole life order and only the fourth woman to receive a whole life order after Myra Hindley, Rose West and triple killer Joanna Dennehy.
Emotion: Ruth Langford was forced to choke back tears when d iscussing killer nurse Lucy Letby during Monday’s Loose Women
Evil: The host, 63, was reading about the murder’s refusal to attend court and listen to the families of the seven babies she killed’s impact statements (Lucy pictured)
The decision not to attend court to hear her fate was branded ‘the final act of wickedness from a coward’ – and has prompted yet more calls for new laws to force criminals to come to the dock.
Families of the 33-year-old’s victims told how their world had been ‘shattered by evil disguised as a caring nurse’, as they told her ‘you are nothing’.
Issuing his sentencing remarks as if she was still in the room, Mr Justice Goss said Letby displayed a ‘morbid fascination’ with seriously ill children and inflicted ‘acute pain’ as they desperately fought for life.
He told the court: ‘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.’
The judge said Lucy would be provided copies of his remarks and the personal statements of the families of her victims.
He said only she knew what had driven her to embark on a ‘cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder’, and noted she had ‘coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing’.
Difficult: Ruth had tears in her eyes as she introduced the discussion to her fellow panelists explaining how Lucy would not leave her cell to appear in the dock
Tough: Despite broadcaster’s voice cracked when reading the words ‘babies who she killed’ she managed to regain her composure and carry on with the show
An artist’s impression showing a parent of one of Letby’s victims reading a victim impact statement as Mr Justice Goss watches on
The judge said the nurse prided herself on her professionalism which enabled her to start harming children without suspicion, displaying ‘malevolence bordering on sadism’. He said she adopted tactics such as attacking babies when other staff were on their breaks before keeping medical documents as ‘morbid records’ of her attacks.
This morning, families of the victims told how their world had been ‘shattered by evil disguised as a caring nurse’, as they told her ‘you are nothing’.
The parents of Baby A, who was murdered by Letby in 2015, and his twin sister Baby B – who was attacked but survived – told of their pain in a victim impact statement read out to the court. They said: ‘We never got to hold our little boy while he was alive, because you took him away. What should have been the happiest time of our lives became our worst nightmare.’
The mother of Child C, who weighed just 1lb 12oz when he was murdered by Letby, described the ‘overwhelming emotion’ she felt the first time she held her son. She said: ‘It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. My tiny feisty boy, my firstborn, my son. The trauma of that night will live with us all until the day we die. Knowing now his murderer was watching us was like something out of a horror story.’
She said she blamed herself for his death and not protecting him, adding: ‘What if I had not gone to bed that night? Maybe he would still be here.’
The mother of Child D said Letby’s ‘wicked sense of entitlement’ had led her to claim lives ‘that were not yours to take’.
