Cheryl Korbel is continuing to demand a change in the law after Lucy Letby refused to appear for her sentencing.
The 33-year-old nurse was found guilty of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others on Friday (August 18). The nurse had been trusted by her colleagues at the Countess of Chester Hospital's Neonatal Unit, but between June 2015 and June 2016 lived a secret life preying on premature and sick babies.
Today, Letby – the UK's most prolific child serial killer – refused to appear in the dock for her sentencing to face over a dozen relatives of her victims who were all sat in the public gallery. The parents whose children fell victim to Letby's crimes read their victim personal statements to the court before her sentencing, describing how the horrendous crimes devastated their families, before the absent Letby was told she would die in prison.
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Her actions echo that of other criminals who have refused to face up to their horrendous crimes, including fellow child killer Thomas Cashman. Cheryl Korbel said her heart goes out to the families of the babies who were killed.
She said: "I mean, my personal experience, writing the impact statement was really hard. It wasn't going to take minutes.
"It was over a matter of weeks. And it's important for the offenders to listen to the pain that they've caused, the pain that is ongoing.
"That first port of call of rehabilitation should be in that courtroom and standing there listening to the judge and listening to the families impact statements."
When asked by ITN what Cheryl's reaction was to Letby not appearing in the dock, she said: "Me heart goes out to the families. Really does."
She continued: "To actually go through a court case and not have that chance of actually eye to eye with the offender."
People have slammed Letby for her refusal to face up to her victims' families, with some calling for her to have been "ordered" to stand.
Pat Ledwith called her "evil beyond compare'" adding: "Why should she have a choice not to attend court. It's disgusting.
"My heart goes out to those poor babies and their families."
Louise Xander said: "She should have had no option but to have to listen to all these statements. It’s wrong that she has been able to duck out of the sentencing."
Sandra Shackleton said: "Lucy Letby should be ordered to stand in court today." Others concurred, with Mary Davies saying: "She should have no choice whether she goes into court for sentences.
"The law needs changing."
Letby has joined a long and vile list of criminals who refused to face the families of their victims during their sentencing. The list includes Thomas Cashman, who murdered nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel before refusing to face her family and hear Justice Amanda Yip hand down his life sentence with a minimum of 42 years.
Liam Cain is also on the horrifying list, after he was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 17 years for the murder of Courtney Boorne last month. Cain, 19, was found unanimously guilty of murdering his girlfriend by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court after one hour and nine minutes of deliberations.
Courtney was heard screaming out of the window of the couple's 14th storey flat on Quarry Green Heights in Kirkby moments before police discovered her lifeless body on a bed inside, having been strangled to death aged 20.
The ECHO has called for the government to change the law in the name of victim's like those murdered by Letby and other cowardly killers who hid in their cells to hide from the sentencings they deserved.
Cheryl Korbel, mum of Olivia, told our sister paper the Sunday Mirror she would support a law "that would force criminals to show up for sentencing."
She added: "We were dragged right through that court case when we didn’t need to be. If he’d owned it from the beginning, we wouldn’t have had to be there. He was in that dock right through the trial and on the last day he said ‘I’m not going up’. It’s not fair.
“Why should we go through all that and then he gets the option of not being there? It’s like a kick in the teeth. He’s just a coward – and that’s being polite. I’ve got some slight comfort from him being behind bars. But he’s still got a roof over his head, three square meals, access to gyms and this, that and the other.”
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