Killer nurse Lucy Letby will face retrial

Serial killer nurse Lucy Letby will face a retrial on one outstanding count of attempted murder of a baby at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

The retrial relates to Baby K which jurors in Letby's original trial were unable to decide on. The retrial has been provisionally set for 10th June 2024 and is slated to last 2-3 weeks.

Cheshire Constabulary

Letby, 33, was sentenced to a whole life order after jurors convicted her of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016.

Prosecutors had to decide on today (25 September) whether to seek a retrial for Letby on a number of outstanding allegations.

Although she was given a whole life order for the murders, the jury in her trial at Manchester Crown Court was unable to reach verdicts last month on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five children.

Letby denied all the offences and formally lodged an appeal against her conviction at the Court of Appeal earlier this month.

The jury of seven women and four men in Letby's trial had been unable to reach verdicts on allegations that she attempted to murder three baby girls, referred to in court documents as Child H, Child J and Child K.

Letby, who is from Hereford, was cleared of two other counts of attempted murder.

The jury also decided it could not reach verdicts over two counts of attempted murder against Child N, a baby boy, and an allegation she tried to murder another male infant, Child Q.

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Letby was found guilty of one count of attempted murder against Child N.

The court heard how the former neonatal nurse injected newborns with air and insulin, overfed them or physically assaulted them while they were in her care. She also stole over 250 confidential documents relating to the children's care to keep as mementoes of her murders and falsified patient records in an attempt to avert suspicion.

However a significant rise in the number of babies suffering serious and unexpected collapses in 2015 and 2016 was noticed by the Countess of Chester Hospital. Letby’s presence when collapses happened was mentioned for the first time to senior management by the unit’s head consultant in late June 2015.

Some consultants grew concerned about Letby and they they raised the issue with hospital bosses when more unexplained and unusual collapses of babies followed, Letby's trial at Manchester Crown Court heard.

Letby was not removed from the unit until after the deaths of two triplet boys and the collapse of another baby boy on three successive days in June 2016.

She was 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.

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