Lucy Letby previously failed to appear to hear the final verdicts from the jury (Picture: PA)

Lucy Letby, Britain’s worst child killer of modern times, has failed to appear in the dock for her sentencing this morning.

The nurse, who murdered seven babies and tried to kill six more while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit between 2015-2016, is expected to be handed a life sentence at Manchester Crown Court.

Speculation over whether Letby, 33, would actually appear before judge Mr Justice Goss today has been rife in recent days.

She was not present in the dock to hear the final verdicts from the jury last week, and indicated that she did not intend to come back for her sentencing.

Speaking after the verdicts were returned, the judge said: ‘The sentencing hearing will of course take place whether she is present or not.

‘The court has no power to force a defendant to attend at a sentencing hearing, therefore there is nothing I can do in relation to that.’

Earlier this year, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said the government is ‘committed’ to changing the law so criminals must attend their sentencing hearings.

Calls for action became louder earlier this year, when nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s killer Thomas Cashman refused to appear in the dock to hear he had been jailed for life.

Lucy Letby listened to the first few verdicts from the jury, but did not return to court to hear them finish (Picture: PA)

The murderers of Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa also did not attend for their sentencing sessions last year.

This morning, Zara Aleena’s aunt Farah Naz told Times Radio she was concerned the non-attendance of criminals ‘will continue as a trend’ if they are not persuaded to appear in court.

She said: ‘I think that Letby has to face justice, and she has to face society. And I think we don’t have to drag in the criminal. I think we can persuade them.

‘There are certain other ways of getting them into the courtroom so they face justice, and that would be to extend minimum tariffs or to refuse a tariff or to refuse parole or to refuse certain privileges in prison.

‘I think, if we don’t do this, this will continue as a trend. And I think what it does when an offender doesn’t appear in the courtroom, it’s another way of the offender spitting in the face of the law, but also of the victims, and taking a bit of power.’

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She was also not present to hear the final verdicts from the jury last week.