What is a whole-life order after Lucy Letby sentenced?

Baby killer Lucy Letby has been sentenced to a whole-life order after being found guilty of murdering seven babies while working at Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.

This makes Lucy Letby only the fourth woman in UK history to receive such a punishment.

Lucy Letby is now considered one of the most prolific child serial killers in modern British history with prosecutor Nicholas Johnson KC telling the court that there was a “very, very clear case” for a whole-life order to be imposed on the former nurse.

What is a whole-life order amid the sentencing of Lucy Letby?

Whole-life orders are only reserved for those who commit the most heinous crimes and are used to ensure the offender is unable to ever be released from prison, according to the UK Government website.

Those sentenced with this in England and Wales may only ever be released from prison under exceptional compassionate circumstances.

Offenders released will spend the rest of their lives ‘on licence’ in the community, meaning if they break the conditions of their release or commit another crime, they will be sent straight back to prison.

Who has been given a whole-life order?

PA states that some of the country’s most dangerous offenders have been given this sentence.

These include Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens and home-grown terrorist Ali Harbi Ali who murdered MP Sir David Amess in 2021.

The three other women before Lucy Letby to have been handed this sentence include the girlfriend of Moors murderer Ian Brady, Myra Hindley and serial killers Rose West and Joanna Dennehy.

There are currently 70 criminals serving whole-life orders.

Previously, only Home Secretaries could issue whole-life tariffs with these sentences now being determined by judges.

A number of reforms have been made to these with the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act expanding the use of these for the premeditated murder of a child.