Lucy Letby

Lucy Letby (born 4 January 1990) is a British former neonatal nurse who was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. She came under investigation after an unusual cluster of deaths and collapses in the hospital's neonatal unit, three years after she began working there. Charged in November 2020 with seven counts of murder and fifteen counts of attempted murder relating to seventeen babies, Letby was prosecuted on the basis of her presence during many of the incidents, two abnormal blood test results and skin discolouration interpreted as signs of insulin poisoning and air embolism, alleged inconsistencies in medical records, her removal of nursing handover sheets from the hospital, and handwritten notes that the prosecution characterised as a confession. In August 2023, she was found guilty on seven counts each of murder and attempted murder, acquitted on two counts of attempted murder, and the jury was unable to reach verdicts on six further counts. She received fourteen whole life orders. One of the unresolved attempted murder charges was retried in July 2024, resulting in a fifteenth whole life order. Senior management at the Countess of Chester Hospital were criticised for failing to act on clinicians' concerns, prompting the British government to commission an independent statutory inquiry, which began hearings in September 2024. Cheshire Police examined additional cases, but the Crown Prosecution Service declined to bring further charges. Following the lifting of reporting restrictions, several medical and statistical experts have challenged the prosecution's interpretation of the clinical and numerical evidence, arguing that the infants' deteriorations were consistent with natural causes. Two applications for permission to appeal have been refused by the Court of Appeal, and the Criminal Cases Review Commission is considering a preliminary application to refer the case back to the court.