It’s been two years since the case of Lucy Letby was heard in court – and it still continues to shock the world. In 2023, Letby, a nurse in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital, was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others at the hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. This makes Letby the most prolific child serial killer in British legal history.
Ever since, the case hasn’t been far from the headlines. Now, prosecutors are considering bringing further charges against Lucy Letby, who is currently serving 15 life sentences for her crimes. Cheshire Police has been investigating other incidents which date back to 2012, when Letby was training as a nurse at Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
According to a report in The Mail, detectives have passed a file of evidence to prosecutors alleging she murdered and harmed more babies. The newspaper reports that over a dozen potential offences are included in the file, which will be looked into by the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), who will determine whether she should be charged with more crimes.
‘We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought,’ the CPS said. ‘As always, we will make that decision independently, based on the evidence and in line with our legal test.’
This follows the news that three senior executives who worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital had been arrested by Cheshire Police on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
What prison is Lucy Letby in?
Lucy Letby is believed to be serving her life sentence at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, which houses some of Britain’s most dangerous female killers. One of these is Sian Hedges, who killed her 18-month-old son with her boyfriend Jack Benham. Another inmate is Beinash Batool, who killed her 10-year-old stepdaughter with her husband Urfan Sharif.
According to the prison’s website, it houses 572 women across four house blocks. It reads: ‘Each wing has a servery unit for women to collect their food which they can choose to eat together on the wing or take back to their cells. We provide telephones in each room which is integral in helping women to maintain their family ties.’
Will Lucy Letby get a retrial?
Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others. A year later, she was convicted on one further count of attempted murder.
However, some recent reports have cast doubts on Letby’s conviction. A press conference held in February this year with an international panel of medical experts investigated the medical evidence against Lucy Letby. It concluded that there were alternative explanations for each of the deaths. They said they found no evidence of deliberate harm, and believe Letby did not murder any babies.
However, a retrial for Letby is not imminent. She has already appealed twice against her convictions, and lost both times. In May last year the court of appeal dismissed Letby’s case on all grounds and rejected her argument that expert prosecution evidence was flawed.
Letby’s defence team have confirmed that a preliminary application has been made to the CCRC, which is a body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice. However, it is still thought to take at least a year to review the evidence before a referral back to the Court of Appeal could even be considered. So for now, Letby remains behind bars.
What have Lucy Letby’s parents said?
Lucy Letby’s parents, John and Susan Letby, have always maintained their daughter’s innocence. However, they have not issued any public statements outlining their views on the case or in relation to her appeal.
Last year, it was revealed that they wrote to hospital bosses in 2017 asking for an urgent meeting with senior managers at the hospital after police began investigating their daughter, expressing their ‘intolerable anguish.’
‘It is now one year since our nightmare began,’ they wrote in an email. ‘There is a saying ‘innocent until proven guilty’ but it doesn’t seem to apply to Lucy. She is still the only one of all the staff on the neonatal unit to be singled out for punishment.’ John and Susan requested an ‘urgent meeting’ to discuss the situation, adding ‘We would appreciate the meeting to be as soon as possible as the anguish this situation is causing has become intolerable.’
Sir Duncan Nichol, who was then the Countess of Chester hospital’s board chair, told the Thirlwall inquiry, sitting at Liverpool town hall that he did not respond to the email.
