Child killer nurse Lucy Letby in latest bid for freedom

A hearing is expected to be held in London before a panel of three senior judges

Nurse Lucy Letby (PA Media)

Child serial killer Lucy Letby is renewing her bid to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal.

The nurse had an initial application for permission to appeal against all of her convictions refused by a judge without a hearing last month.

Letby has since chosen to renew her efforts to take forward her appeal, a judicial spokeswoman confirmed on Wednesday.

A hearing is expected to be held in London before a panel of three senior judges at a later date, where they will decide whether to grant leave to appeal.

In August 2023, Letby, 34, of Hereford, was sentenced to 14 whole life orders after she was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others, with two attempts on one of her victims.

Lucy Letby (Chester Standard/SWNS)

The offences took place at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit, where nurse Letby worked, between June 2015 and June 2016.

Typically, applications for permission to appeal against a crown court decision are considered by a judge looking at legal documents without a hearing.

If this is refused, people have 14 days to renew their bid for permission at a full court hearing before two or three judges.

The jury in Letby’s trial at Manchester Crown Court was unable to reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five children.

Letby will face a retrial at the same court in June on a single count that she attempted to murder a baby girl, known as Child K, in February 2016.

A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children who were the subject of the allegations.