Lucy Letby, U.K. nurse convicted of murdering babies, may face more charges

Lucy Letby, the British nurse already convicted of murdering seven babies, could face further charges over allegations relating to deaths and other incidents at hospitals where she worked, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Letby, 35, is already serving life in jail and will never be released after being found guilty of murdering and attempting to murder newborns, and attempting to kill eight more at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northern England between June 2015 and June 2016.

During her trial in 2023, the court heard that she abused babies in her care by overfeeding them with milk, administering air into their blood and stomachs, poisoning them with insulin and physically assaulting them.

Letby has maintained her innocence the entire time.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed on Wednesday that it was considering further charges against Letby over alleged crimes at the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

The Cheshire Police force told the BBC it had “submitted a full file of evidence to the CPS for charging advice,” however, the number or exact nature of the potential new offences is not yet known.

A CPS spokesperson told the BBC: “We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought.

“As always, we will make that decision independently, based on the evidence and in line with our legal test.”

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Since Letby was jailed, some lawmakers and medical experts have publicly challenged the prosecution’s evidence that was used to find her guilty, with some experts querying whether any babies had actually been murdered at all.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission, which examines potential miscarriages of justice, is currently considering an application from Letby’s legal team. Her lawyer, Mark McDonald, said on Wednesday that the evidence of her innocence was “overwhelming.”

“We will cross every bridge when we get to it but if Lucy is charged I know we have a whole army of internationally renowned medical experts who will totally undermine the prosecution’s unfounded allegations,” McDonald said in a statement.

In an unrelated development, detectives said on Tuesday they had arrested three unnamed senior members of the Countess of Chester Hospital’s leadership team as part of their separate investigation into individuals and the Chester hospital itself.

“Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing, and there are no set timescales for these,” said Det. Supt. Paul Hughes, who is leading the investigation.

According to officials, the three staff members all worked at the hospital at the same time as Letby. All three were released on bail after being questioned Monday.

The CPS said it had not yet been asked to consider any charges in relation to the investigation into the staff or the hospital itself.

— With files from Reuters