Baby killer nurse and pub gunman among 86 criminals locked up for the longest terms in 2023

Baby killer nurse Lucy Letby is one of three criminals who will spend the rest of their lives behind bars after being handed whole-life terms for their crimes in 2023.

Letby - the UK's most prolific child serial killer of modern times - will spend decades behind bars after being convicted of the murders of seven babies on the hospital ward she worked on.

Cop killer Louis De Zoysa, who shot a custody sergeant while handcuffed in his cell, and Lawrence Bierton, who killed his third victim within months of being released from prison for a double murder, join Letby in never being released from jail.

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Dozens of other offenders - including murderers, rapists and drug smugglers - will be spending decades locked up. Gunman Connor Chapman, who killed a beautician when he opened fire outside a pub on Christmas Eve was one of the offenders handed a sentence of more than 40 years this year.

Peter Nash and Saju Chelavalel are among the parents who are now behind bars for killing their own children and partners. While evil stepdads Kyle Bevan and Craig Crouch both murdered innocent infants.

Here are 86 of the worst offenders jailed across the UK in 2023, who will now be serving sentences of 25 years of more for their heinous crimes.

Louis De Zoysa shot a custody sergeant dead while handcuffed inside a police cell. The gun fanatic will spend his whole life in prison after being handed a whole life order in July for the murder of Matt Ratana.

At his trial, jurors were shown distressing CCTV footage of the 26-year-old using a