LEGAL EAGLE: Following Lucy Letby conviction, will legislation to compel defendants to attend court achieve the desired aim?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Letby was sentenced to multiple whole life orders for the crimes. This means she will never be released and will die in prison. She is only the fourth female in UK history to receive a whole life order. The previous three being Rosemary West, Joanne Dennehy and Myra Hindley.

There are some similarities between the Letby murders and the case of Beverley Allitt, the nurse convicted in 1991 of murdering four infants, attempting to murder three more and causing GBH to a further six at a hospital in Lincolnshire. Allitt received 13 life sentences with a minimum term of 30 years.

I can make no comment on the Letby case without acknowledging the unimaginable despair suffered by the parents of the babies Letby murdered or who she attempted to kill. There are no words to even come close to adequately describing the families’ loss in those circumstances, the deliberate actions of a nurse killing children entrusted to her care.

Letby did not attend her sentencing hearing which has provoked much media debate. There have been calls for defendants to be compelled to attend which might provide some degree of solace to victims’ families. The practicalities beneath the headlines appear fraught with difficulty.

It has been said that courts should increase the sentence given if a defendant does not attend. In the case of a whole life sentence no increase is possible.

Commentators have raised the possibility of defendants being forcibly brought to the court but would this not risk serious injury to the prison officers assigned with the task of doing so? Would a situation arise in which a defendant is forcibly held down in the dock? Defendants can be very disturbed individuals. Having been forced to court would they shout and scream and, if not display utter disrespect to victims, perhaps simply make it impossible for the sentencing hearing to proceed? When Joanne Dennehy received her whole life order she did attend the sentencing hearing, but stood in the dock laughing.

Another alternative discussed is the possibility of the judge’s sentencing remarks and the victim impact statements being broadcast into a defendant’s prison cell. Having had experience of many severely disturbed criminal defendants over the years it is not inconceivable that they might put their fingers in their ears and hum – as disrespectful and insulting to a victim’s family as it would be.

It seems to me there is no easy answer to the understandable wish by many victims to be heard. Perhaps the government, who are currently supported by the opposition on the issue, will pass legislation to compel defendants to attend court, but will it achieve the desired aim?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Perhaps the government should concentrate on failures within NHS management highlighted in the Letby case. Whistleblowing was ignored. Doctors raised numerous concerns about Letby. Hospital management refused to conduct an independent investigation, required doctors to write a letter of apology to Letby and ignored continuing deaths. It is reported management went as far as stating that doctors who were raising concerns about Letby should be reported to the GMC and have disciplinary action taken against them. Only when the Police finally became involved was there any serious investigation.

Hospitals are entrusted with the lives of our nearest and dearest. Letby is now in prison for life. The victims’ families are left having to live with their loss. What type of management culture we want in our NHS hospitals is a matter for us all.