A nurse has pleaded not guilty after bein accused of murdering eight babies and attempting to kill ten more.

Lucy Letby, 30, has been arrested three times as part of a three-year probe into a series of deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit.

The charges are linked to the deaths of 17 infants under one year old, with one of the supposed victims falling under both a count of murder and attempted murder.

A police probe was initially launched after the hospital reported a suspiciously high number of deaths between March 2015 to July 2016. Medics had discovered several premature babies had died after suffering from heart and lung failure.

A spokesperson for the police service said: "The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised Cheshire Police to charge a healthcare professional with murder in connection with an ongoing investigation into a number of baby deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

"Lucy Letby, of Arran Avenue, Hereford, is facing eight charges of murder and 10 charges of attempted murder."

Letby was previously arrested in 2018 and 2019 in connection to the probe, but was bailed.

Specially-trained officers are now working with the families of the victims following recent developments.

"A dedicated team of detectives have been working extremely hard on this highly complex and very sensitive case doing everything they can as quickly as they can to identify what has led to these baby deaths and collapses," said Detective Chief Inspector Paul Hughes, who is in charge of the investigation.

"Parents of all the babies have been kept fully updated on this latest development and they are continuing to be supported throughout the process by specially trained officers.

"This is an extremely difficult time for all the families and it is important to remember that, at the heart of this, there are a number of bereaved families seeking answers as to what happened to their children."