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<\/p>\nMore than 80 per cent of Brits believe Lucy Letby should have been hauled into court to learn her fate, Mail Online can reveal, in a sign of the massive public anger at the serial killer’s cowardice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The child-murdering neonatal nurse was handed a whole-life sentence on Monday, but hid in her cell rather than face furious bereaved families and be told she would die in prison.<\/p>\n
A poll by Redfield and Wilton Strategies for MailOnline today reveals 86 per cent of the public believes that the worst violent offenders should be required to attend such hearings.<\/p>\n
And almost the same proportion back moves to change the law to give judges the power to make it happen. Currently they only have the power to add time to offenders’ sentences for contempt of court – an empty threat in Letby’s case.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Bereaved mothers and fathers of her victims, some of whom were only days-old, were left to frustratingly address a dock containing three empty seats.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Letby, 33, was sentenced to a whole-life term on Monday for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murders of six more.<\/p>\n
But heartbroken parents were left to read statement detailing their loss to an empty dock after she refused to attend. Some had lost children who were just days old.<\/p>\n
Trial judge Mr Justice Goss said he has no power to force a defendant to attend a sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n
The mother of Child E, a premature boy who died, and Child F, his twin brother, who survived, told the court that the nurse’s refusal to appear was ‘just one final act of wickedness from a coward’.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rishi Sunak and senior ministers have pledged to change the law to give judges the power to drag the worst offenders into court to learn their fate.<\/p>\n
But they put no timescale on when it might happen, with fears it may not happen before the next general election, expected to take place at the earliest in May 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Senior doctors at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where she carried out her year-long killing spree on the neonatal unit, raised concerns for months before she was finally taken off frontline duties.<\/p>\n
The hospital saw a significant rise in the number of babies suffering serious and unexpected collapses in 2015 and 2016.<\/p>\n
Letby’s presence when collapses took place was first mentioned to senior management by the unit’s head consultant in late June 2015.<\/p>\n
Concerns among some consultants about Letby increased and were voiced to hospital bosses when more unexplained and unusual collapses followed, her trial at Manchester Crown Court heard.<\/p>\n
But Letby was not removed from the unit until after the deaths of two triplet boys and the collapse of another baby boy on three successive days in June 2016.<\/p>\n
She was confined to clerical work but registered a grievance procedure, which was resolved in her favour, and was due to return to the unit in March 2017.<\/p>\n
The move did not take place as soon after police were contacted by the hospital trust.<\/p>\n