Beverly Allitt

[Sleeepdeprived]

The similarities between Beverly Allitt and Lucy Letby are striking. Quite rightly, Lucy Letby received 14 whole life orders and will die in prison, whereas Beverly Allitt received 13 life sentences meaning she only needs to serve a minimum of 30 years in prison. She was sentenced in 1993 so is already eligible for release on parole.

BA was convicted of 4 counts of murder, 5 counts of attempted murder and 6 counts of GBH on babies, using the same methods as LL - injecting insulin and air. Absolutely awful.

AIBU to think her sentence should be changed to a whole life order and she should also be made to die in prison alongside LL?

I don’t think you can go round changing everyone’s sentences just because someone else got a longer or shorter one.

i dont think so
i guess it is up to the families involved in ba case

Her crimes were so heinous though. I can’t believe she didn’t get a whole life order originally.

That’s not really how the justice system works. You can’t retrospectively change someone’s sentence after 30 years because of someone else’s crimes.

She was tried and sentenced at the time, so that's it
Shame the judge didn't have the balls that LL judge did, I agree in principle though
Evil, evil women

I can’t fathom that she could be released and walking on our streets anytime from now. Cowardly judge.

i guess it is up to the families involved in ba case

What do you mean? It's not up to them to extend her sentence.

I agree that she should have been sentenced for longer, but I also agree that you can't go back and change it. She still has to actually get parole though, is that likely.

families do appeal on sentencing

Being eligible for parole and getting parole aren't the same thing.

I would hope BA doesn't get parole. Getting herself admitted to Rampton was a move which will prevent parole because on my understanding she needs to be well enough to be transferred back to prison before she can apply.

She is held under a MHA section at Rampton not in the prison system, her section would also have to be lifted or altered (by the MoJ) if she were ever to be released, which is highly unlikely as she has been at Rampton high secure for years and has not been downgraded to medium secure in that time.

BA had mitigating circumstances I believe and LL did not. She won't be released I doubt as she's unwell in a secure hospital but the mitigating circumstances probably is why her sentence is 'lesser'

Not that it’s important, but at the time of BA’s sentencing, only government ministers could impose whole life orders.

Was the whole life tariff in existence then?

In very very limited use until 2003, according to Wikipedia. Yorkshire Ripper did not get whole life order, was upgraded in 2010.

I don't think "sentences decided by the baying crowd" is a particularly advanced method of justice, tbh.

At the time she was sentenced she was told she was never likely to be deemed safe enough for release. The fact that she has been in a secure mental hospital for so long is not exactly going to help to convince a parole board that she is secure to be released.

The reality is that her chances of release are close to zero and this is a non-issue.

Not in the least cowardly. Judges had no power to sentence people to whole life orders at that time.

The only similarities are both women, working as nurses and with infant victims.

BA had a significant history of mental illness symptoms before arrest and since, which is why she's in hospital under section and not in prison.

That doesn't make her not responsible for her crimes but does make her very different to LL.

She's extremely unlikely to ever get out anyway.

I don’t think it very likely that BA will be discharged/released. They would have to be sure she was no longer a danger and I don’t see how that would happen.

I don't think the possibility of her walking the streets is something you should spend your time worrying about, if she gets released it's because she is suitably rehabilitated and I doubt would have any impact of your life

That probably won't happen. Myra Hindley's origional tarrif was 25 years, later increased to 30.

So 1991 then 1996.

She has never been in prison, she's in a secure hospital. She won't cone out.

Cowardly to impose the maximum sentence available at the time? I don't think that's a fair comment.

I agree that I don't think she should be released, but as she was told at the time that she was unlikely ever to be freed, and has spent most of her time in Rampton, I think it unlikely. Fingers crossed.

Hmmm. I don’t think she’ll be coming out, the whole life sentence wasn’t handed out as much as it is now when she was sentenced. There were different rules around how it was used. She will just be repeatedly denied parole.

She is in a secure psychiatric hospital, not prison but there is a lot of dispute about this and whether she should be there. She only did a week at a normal prison after being sentenced and suddenly refused to eat and was put on suicide watch. She was then diagnosed as having anorexia on the basis of that week of not eating and was transferred to Rampton where she’s been since. Many people think she faked mental illness to be transferred. There was a documentary about Rampton made in the 90s which showed her and had her talking to the cameras saying she liked it there as it was more open and she had more freedom of movement.

There is a documentary about BV on ITVX - Trevor McDonald and the Killer nurse - which discusses all this and the original documentary about Rampton was on you tube. I’m not sure if it’s still there. We had to study the case as part of our psychology course and preparation for our visit to Broadmoor.

Given she’s been in a secure hospital since 1992, it’s unlikely she will ever be released. More so after the LL case.

@Willmafrockfit the Crown can appeal against a lenient sentence, but not the victim's family

And an appeal must be marked timeously, not years later