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"Harrowing" trial concludes with whole life sentence for killer nurse

Monday 21 August 2023

"Harrowing" trial concludes with whole life sentence for killer nurse

Monday 21 August 2023


Lucy Letby will spend the rest of her life in prison after a long running trial which saw evidence from one of Guernsey's doctors.

Dr Sandie Bohin helped to convict Letby of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six more. Dr Bohin is a consultant paediatrician at the Medical Specialist Group and was one of the experts in childhood health and medicine asked to give evidence for the prosecution during the course case.

As an expert witness for the prosecution, Dr Bohin had to be available throughout the majority of the trial to give evidence and then to answer questions from both the prosecution and the defence as the hearing continued.

sandie bohin

Pictured: Dr Sandie Bohin is employed by Guernsey's MSG.

The trial opened in November last year and concluded this morning with Letby given a whole life order. That means she will not be eligible for parole due to the nature of her crimes and she is expected to spend the rest of her life in prison.

The only other women to have been given that penalty in British criminal history are Myra Hindley, Rose West and Joanna Dennehy. A larger number of male killers including Jeremy Bamber, Levi Belfield, Mark Bridger and Wayne Couzens are also serving whole life orders. 

Due to the nature of her crimes - targeting vulnerable young infants and often siblings - Dr Bohin said the case was "harrowing", with Letby now being described as either "Britain's worst child killer in modern history" or the country's "most prolific child killer of all time" in news reports, with some claims persisting that she may have murdered or attempted to murder other young patients. 

Letby was found not guilty on two counts of attempted murder and the jury did not reach verdicts in six other counts of attempted murder. iNews reported that police are to review 4,000 more hospital cases linked to the convicted nurse while Sky News reported that "more families have been told their children may be victims of killer nurse Lucy Letby as the police investigation widens into her entire career".

Following Letby's conviction of the final charges against her on Friday, Dr Bohin said: "This was a long and harrowing experience for everyone involved. My heart goes out to the families of the babies who died or who were injured and for the additional trauma the parents endured of having to sit through the trial and listen to the evidence presented."

Lucy letby

Pictured: Lucy Letby (Cheshire Constabulary).

Letby had refused to attend court for the final verdicts to be delivered on Friday and her sentencing yesterday but she had been in court throughout the trial and to hear the first few guilty verdicts against her.

Dr Bohin had helped secure those guilty verdicts following her experience in medico-legal work for paediatric and neonatal cases for the UK National Crime Agency and for HM Coroner in the UK since 2005. 

"I have acted as an expert witness for many years but this was by far the most significant case I have been involved in," said Dr Bohin.

"What should have been a six-month trial extended to nine.  

"Involvement in a trial of this magnitude was a 'once in a career' experience, not only for me but for the legal teams and the Police. My role did not just involve giving evidence and hearing all the evidence given to the court, it also involved answering lawyers’ questions in real time as the evidence was being heard. In the evening I wrote additional reports for the court and answered the barristers' medical questions as they arose."

sandie bohin dewi evans

Pictured: Over the past nine months, Dr Sandie Bohin and Dr Dewi Evans were quoted in national media reporting of the trial, including the Daily Mail. 

Dr Bohin - who has since returned to her role as consultant paediatrician for the MSG - gave evidence alongside Dr Dewi Evans with both insisting that the tiny victims had been injected with air either into their blood streams, into their stomachs or their feeding tubes.

Letby's defence advocate had tried to have Dr Evans' evidence dismissed but that was refused by the trial judge.

Both Dr Evans and Dr Bohin's evidence has been cited in numerous news reports as being central to the prosecution case and crucial in the killer nurse's conviction. 

READ MORE...

“This was a long and harrowing experience”

Guernsey doctor gives evidence in nurse murder trial

Guernsey expert adds to evidence at nurse murder trial

Murder accused nurse trial continues

Three Code of Conduct complaints lodged against Deputy St Pier

Bailiff intervenes after confidentiality of St Pier complaint process breached

Paediatrician joins Guernsey team 

Guernsey girl flown to UK hospital with rare post-covid syndrome 

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