Serial killer nurse Lucy Letby is facing a retrial over one allegation of attempted murder.
The Crown Prosecution Service announced its decision on whether it would be seeking a retrial over six counts of attempted murder in relation to five babies at Manchester Crown Court on Monday.
Letby, from Hereford, appeared at via video link from HMP New Hall to hear that she will be facing a retrial over one count of attempted murder related to baby girl Child K, while the other charges have been left to lie on file.
Lucy Letby last month became one of Britain’s most prolific serial killers of children
(PA Media)
A jury last month sentenced Letby to a rare whole-life order for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit, making her one of Britain’s most prolific serial killers of children.
Letby was found to have deliberately injected infants with air or poisoned them with insulin between June 2015 and June 2016 while working at the hospital in the North West. Other babies, some of whom had been born prematurely or had specific vulnerabilities, were harmed by being fed excessive amounts of milk, while one was physically assaulted.
However, the jury of seven women and four men in the 10-month trial could not reach verdicts on allegations that Letby attempted to murder three baby girls, known in court documents as Child H, Child J and Child K.
The jury, which heard from more than 240 witnesses, also decided it could not reach verdicts over an allegation she tried to murder another male infant, Child Q, and two counts of attempted murder against Child N, a baby boy, against whom Letby was found guilty of one count of attempted murder.
She was cleared of two other counts of attempted murder.
Letby denied all the offences and formally lodged an appeal against her conviction at the Court of Appeal earlier in September.
Letby was arrested at her home in Chester in July 2018 and charged in November that year
(Cheshire Constabulary/AFP via Ge)
The Countess of Chester Hospital saw a significant rise in the number of babies suffering serious and unexpected collapses in 2015 and 2016.
Letby’s presence when collapses took place was first mentioned to senior management by the unit’s head consultant in late June 2015, after three babies died over a period of two weeks.
Nurse Lucy Letby listening to the verdicts being read at Manchester Crown Court
(PA)
She was later confined to clerical work but registered a grievance procedure, which was resolved in her favour, and was due to return to the unit in March 2017.
Letby was arrested at her home in Chester in July 2018 and charged in November that year. The trial began on October 4 2022 with the jury reaching its final deliberations on August 18 2023 and she was sentenced on August 21.
Lucy Letby is questioned by police following her arrest on 3 July 2018 in Chester, England
(Getty Images)
Following the verdicts, families of her victims expressed their “extreme hurt, anger and distress”. Janet Moore, a family liaison coordinator at Cheshire Constabulary, read out a joint statement on behalf of the families, which said: “We are heartbroken, devastated, angry and feel numb. We may never truly know why this happened.”
Cheshire Police say they are continuing to review the care of some 4,000 babies who were admitted to the Countess of Chester Hospital during Letby’s employment there from 2012 – and also of patients at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where Letby held two work placements.
It has also been announced that an independent inquiry will be held into the case, which will examine “the circumstances surrounding the deaths and incidents, including how concerns raised by clinicians were dealt with”, the Department of Health and Social Care has said.