Lucy Letby ‘will have a price on her head’ and live ‘looking over her shoulder’ as prisoners ‘target’ killer nurse
KILLER nurse Lucy Letby will become a target in her tough jail and spend the rest of her life “looking over her shoulder”.
The monster, 33, will die in jail after being handed a whole life tariff for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others.
It is believed Letby will serve her sentence at tough HMP Low Newton in County Durham, which is home to some of the deadliest criminals.
The “at risk” nurse will at first be kept away from other prisoners due to the nature of her heinous crimes, prison experts say.
Yvonne Jewkes, professor of criminology at the University of Bath, told the Daily Star: “She may well have a price on her head.
“At best she’ll be subjected to extreme bullying and intimidation.
“At worst she might be in quite considerable physical danger.”
Letby will likely spend time in the prison’s hospital wing to assess her physical and mental health, as well as to segregate her from fellow lags.
Tania Bassett, from Napo – the trade union and professional association for probation and family court staff – said this is because she is “at risk” from other prisoners.
Anyone who is convicted of murder is also automatically placed on suicide watch, with any potential mental health issues heightened by spending so much time alone.
Ms Bassett said: “Infanticide can conjure a lot of strong emotions and a huge number of those women in prison will be separated from their children.
“Being known as a baby killer will put her at risk from the majority of women in custody so she will be spending a lot of that sentence on her own.
“Prison officers will be the only people she has contact with.”
The Prison Oracle website editor Mark Leech said Letby’s future in jail looks bleak as she spends times as a “restricted status” prisoner.
She will be kept alone for at least six months with most of her communication with prison staff carried out through a hatch in her door.
But Letby will still be able to watch TV, read newspapers or books and will have an hour of exercise each day.
Mark said: “There will almost certainly be people who want to get close to her – but for all the wrong reasons.
“Any relationship she does build is going nowhere as every other prisoner in there will be released at some point or another. This can be difficult mentally as it compounds the sense of isolation.
“She’s got to come to terms with the gravity of what she’s done, why she did it, and the devastation she’s caused to the lives of others. But she’s got the rest of her life to do that. She’s going nowhere. She will die behind bars.”
Britain’s most prolific child killer murdered seven babies in a year-long reign of terror at Countess of Chester Hospital.
She also attempted to kill six others as she became a “constant malevolent presence” on the neo-natal ward.
Letby yesterday became the fourth woman ever to be handed a whole life tariff after Rose West, Joanna Dennehy and Myra Hindley, who died in 2002.
The shameless monster refused to enter court to face justice in what the families of her victims described as a “final act of wickedness from a coward”.
Sentencing, Mr Justice Goss said there was “malevolence bordering on sadism in your actions” as he told her: “You will spend the rest of your life behind bars”.