Lucy Letby: Nurse loses appeal over babies' murder conviction

British nurse Lucy Letby on Friday lost her attempt to overturn her conviction for murdering seven babies and trying to kill six others.

Lucy Letby, 34, was found guilty last year of killing five baby boys and two baby girls at the neonatal unit of Countess of Chester hospital in northern England.

At a hearing in April, Letby put forward four grounds of appeal involving submissions that the trial judge had wrongly refused applications she had made during the trial.

In a very brief hearing on Friday, the Court of Appeal said her appeal had failed. Judge Victoria Sharp, announcing the court’s decision, said that “we have decided to refuse leave to appeal on all grounds”.

The judge added that a full written ruling will be delivered at a later date.
No further details can be given for legal reasons.

Lucy Letby is due to face a retrial on one count of attempted murder at Manchester Crown Court next month.

About the ‘killer nurse’

Originally from Hereford in western England, Lucy Letby studied nursing at the University of Chester. She graduated in 2011 and started full-time at the Countess of Chester Hospital the following year, joining the neo-natal unit.

In 2015, she qualified to work on intensive care babies, which would have allowed her to work with the sickest babies in the unit.

She had an active social life, attended salsa classes, travelled and went to the gym, the court heard.

Victims

Letby was accused of harming 17 babies, some of them just days old, between June 2015 and June 2016.

In the majority of cases she is believed to have injected them with air but prosecutors also accused her of introducing insulin or too much milk.

The jury found her guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others on the 22nd day of deliberations.

She was found not guilty on two counts of attempted murder and the jury could not reach a verdict on six attempted murder charges.

Among her victims were a twin brother and sister and two triplet boys.

The names of the babies were not allowed to be reported and are instead referred to as baby A through to Q.

Lucy Letby is said to have on several occasions carried out Facebook searches for the parents of babies that she allegedly attacked.

She said she would look up people when she was thinking about them.