"Who could fail to weep at such pain so deliberately inflicted? At the sly cruelties minutely calibrated so as to escape detection? At the way these babies – tiny, dearly-loved scraps of life – fought so fiercely to survive but stood no chance against the truly wicked depredations of the neonatal nurse entrusted with their care?

And as for the rest of us, we are forever changed. How could we not be?

On Monday, I sat and witnessed those mothers speaking, those fathers struggling to articulate their grief. And as they shed tears, I wept too, just as every parent, every decent person in this land must surely have wept as the full extent of Letby’s icy malevolence was laid bare.

Her sole motive – so deeply pathetic and all the more appalling for that – appears to have been the pursuit of attention. From her colleagues, from a consultant she had a crush on, from the parents clamouring for hope – unknowingly submitting to the hugs and comfort of the woman who had literally just murdered their babies.

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It is said when a parent dies, you lose your past – but when a child dies, you lose your future. The courage of these bereaved parents, sharing their deepest anguish with such dignity, is surely proof that evil will not prevail."