British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has slammed the “cowardly” last act of nurse Lucy Letby who failed to appear at her sentencing for murdering seven babies and trying to kill six others.

The former neonatal nurse was given a “whole-life order” for each offence, with no chance of release — the most severe sentence possible under British law and exceptionally rare.

Letby refused to appear in court to face grieving parents who spoke of their anger and anguish at losing their newborns at what should have been the happiest time of their lives.

Justice James Goss read out the sentence in the courtroom as though he was speaking directly to Letby, the UK’s most prolific baby killer in modern times. 

“This was a cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable of children,” he said.

“There was a deep malevolence bordering on sadism.

“During the course of this trial you have coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing. You have no remorse. There are no mitigating factors.”

“You will spend the rest of your life in prison.”

Lucy Letby did not attend her sentencing in Manchester Crown Court. Photo: AAP (Courtroom artist Elizabeth Cook)

Following 22 days of deliberation, a jury at Manchester Crown Court convicted Letby, 33, of killing the babies over a year in which she preyed on sick newborns and their anxious parents.

The victims died in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between June 2015 and June 2016.

Letby’s absence, which is allowed in British courts during sentencing, fuelled anger from the families of the victims, who wanted her to listen to statements about the devastation caused by her crimes.

The mother of a girl identified as Child I said she would never get over the fact her daughter was “tortured till she had no fight left in her”.

“Everything she went through over her short life was deliberately done by someone who was supposed to protect her and help her come home where she belonged.”

A mother of baby boy Child C said the “trauma” would live with the family forever as “knowing his murderer was watching us was like something out of a horror story”.

The mother of twins, one of whom was murdered, said: “You thought it was your right to play God with our children’s lives.”

‘Cowardly’: Rishi Sunak

Politicians and victim advocates have called for changes in the law to force criminals to appear for sentencing after several high-profile convicts chose not to face their victims in recent months.

Prime Minister Sunak, who called the crimes “shocking and harrowing”, said his government would bring forward in “due course” its plan to require convicts to attend their sentencings.

“It’s cowardly that people who commit such horrendous crimes do not face their victims and hear first-hand the impact that their crimes have had on them and their families and loved ones,” Mr Sunak said.

Justice James Goss read out the sentence as though he was speaking directly to Lucy Letby. Photo: AAP (Courtroom artist Elizabeth Cook)

During Letby’s 10-month trial, prosecutors said that in 2015 the hospital started to see a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying or suffering sudden declines in their health for no apparent reason.

Some suffered “serious catastrophic collapses” but survived after help from medical staff.

Letby was on duty in all of the cases, with prosecutors describing her as a “constant malevolent presence” in the neonatal unit when the children collapsed or died. 

The nurse harmed babies in ways that were difficult to detect, and she persuaded colleagues that their collapses and deaths were normal, they said.

Letby was finally removed from frontline duties in late June of 2016. She was arrested at her home in July 2018.

An independent inquiry will be conducted into what happened at the hospital and how staff and management responded to the spike in deaths.