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?

Allitt is in Rampton, a secure psych unit as diagnosed with MBP.
Letby is going to prison.

I doubt that BA will be released or not considered a danger to society at any point, but her overt MH issues will have been mitigating.

The article I read in the Telegraph from the superintendent who brought BA to justice makes me think parole is unlikely. She still hasn’t admitted culpability or shown remorse.

I though BA had fessed up to some of the murders?

I thought she had too. But not all that she was convicted of.

At least when Allitt is released she can't actual have children now. She absolutely shouldn't be released
Like Letby, her motive was unclear but Munchausens by Proxy was mentioned. I was surprised that wasn't the case with Letby. They are both wicked inviduals never even showing a shred of remorse and should be in prison until they die.

Cowardly?! For not ordering something that they weren't able to do?

Ignorant post.

I don’t think we should be in the business of retrospectively changing sentences of historic cases. That’s not a justice system I want to live with.

However being eligible for parole doesn’t mean she’ll get out. Parole officers very very carefully consider risk factors and work closely with other professionals exposed to those eligible for parole. If they feel Allitt remains to be a risk, they won’t release her.

Don't worry, BA will never be released back into society. She's classed as mentally unwell. She will be committed for life.

Do people really not consider the fact that the rules/laws/regulations have changed over the past 30 years?

Psychiatrist soham das on you tube talks about the difference between the two cases. He explains it very well.

Likely. OP, if you're reading, it would be the non-cowardly thing to do to return to the thread.

Not really that easy to fool experienced practitioners but can happen.

But posters are being very, very silly if they think a secure psychiatric hospital is an 'easy ride'.

It's really not.

At the time she was sentenced, only the Home Secretary of the day had the power to impose WLOs. Judges have only recently been given that power.

Even if BA was released, it would just be into another prison of her own making. She has spent over half her life in detention, would be released back into a world she doesn’t understand and which doesn’t want her, and spend the rest of her days looking over her shoulder. I’d imagine after so many years continued detention is probably the preferable option for many offenders.
I agree that the chance of her ever being released are very, very slender.

@FrownBrown

BA was in prison for a short while before hunger strike. I have family members who have worked in high and medium secure so I know they’re not picnics. Either way it’s a grim life really with no autonomy. I do hope she stays in prison though.

Yep when I wss a student mental health nurse I had a placement in a medium secure unit it was grim ,I imagine it would be far worse in a high secure unit like rampton.

Definitely not. Friend of mine worked there for a time and said it was horrible - and she got to go home at the end of the day.

Beverly is in a hospital for the criminally insane as she was diagnosed with munchausens by proxy. So I doubt she is ever getting out.

Or perhaps I’ve been busy with life… I don’t spend every waking moment on mumsnet. I’ve been working and looking after my baby and toddler. I have 5 minutes now while feeding my baby to sleep so having a quick look on mumsnet. I might not have time to read all the replies and reply myself tonight (weird that I even feel the need to justify this) but I am here and will be back

And also attacked and killed their victims in the same way.

I wasn’t aware of BAs MH issues - I’ve only heard of her since the LL case and was wondering why she didn’t get a whole life order for the same crimes. Now I know a whole life order wasn’t a thing when BA was sentenced, and she was mentally ill. It doesn’t sound likely she’ll ever be released, it’s still crazy to me that it’s an actual possibility (however small) that she could be released any day now.

And apologies to whoever I offended by the ‘cowardly judge’ comment - quite a few of you seemed to be particularly offended by that. I didn’t realise judges couldn’t give whole life orders in 1993 so I apologise and take back that comment.

That isn’t how the justice system works. The families don’t get to decide on charging, sentencing etc.

Nice to see that the people who spent three years deciding they were epidemiologists, briefly international relations experts at the start of the Ukraine war, are now giving us their reckons as lawyers and judges. Must be exhausting.

FWIW I don't think full life terms are a good idea in almost any cases. They don't make us safer, they make prisons significantly less safe and they are likely to be done not for justice but to appease the mob. A very bad way to run a justice system. Politicians love to talk about them because appeasing the mob and keeping us all stupid is their metier.

@MrsTerryPratchett

They hardly make prisons unsafe when such a tiny minority of prisoners receive them. What was LL? The 4th woman to receive one? Personally I think it’s the best outcome for someone as sadistic as her and it’s easy for you to say that when it wasn’t your child she killed.

@MrsTerryPratchett how do they make prisons unsafe??