Letby challenge bid against latest conviction to be heard by Court of Appeal

Child serial killer Lucy Letby is set to have a bid to appeal against her latest conviction for the attempted murder of a baby girl heard at the Court of Appeal.

Letby is due to ask three senior judges for approval to challenge her conviction for trying to kill the newborn, known as Child K, following a retrial in July, for which she was sentenced to a 15th whole life order.

The hearing before Lord Justice William Davis, Lord Justice Jeremy Baker and Mrs Justice McGowan is expected to take place on Thursday.

Letby, 34, was previously sentenced to 14 whole life orders for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others, with two attempts on one child.

A bid to appeal against those convictions was dismissed in May.

Letby’s offences occurred at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit, where she worked as a nurse, between June 2015 and June 2016.

Following her first trial, which ran from October 2022 to August 2023, the jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of Child K, but a second jury took just three-and-a-half hours to convict her at the retrial at Manchester Crown Court.

Jurors were told that Letby targeted the “very premature” infant during a night shift at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the early hours of February 17 2016 by dislodging Child K’s breathing tube after she was moved from the delivery room to the unit’s intensive care unit.

The court heard that she was caught “virtually red-handed” by a colleague, consultant paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram, as he entered Nursery 1 at about 3.45am, who intervened and resuscitated Child K.

Dr Jayaram told jurors he saw “no evidence” that she had done anything to help the deteriorating baby as he walked in and saw her standing next to the infant’s incubator.

Giving evidence, Letby said she had no recollection of the event described by Dr Jayaram and did not accept it had taken place.

Child K was transferred, as planned, to a specialist hospital later on February 17 because of her extreme prematurity and died there three days later.

The sentencing judge, Mr Justice Goss, said that Child K was “exceptionally vulnerable” and that the attack was “another shocking act of calculated callous cruelty”.

After being sentenced, Letby, of Hereford, said “I’m innocent” as dock officers led her away.

Letby’s barrister, Mark McDonald, previously told the BBC that he planned to apply to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to review Letby’s case.

The CCRC investigates potential miscarriages of justice and can refer cases back to the Court of Appeal for consideration.

Meanwhile, a public inquiry into the events surrounding Letby’s crimes, chaired by judge Lady Justice Thirlwall, continues at Liverpool Town Hall after beginning last month.

The judge said inquiry hearings would finish in early 2025 and she expected to publish her findings by late autumn that year.

She also said that the “huge outpouring of comment” and “noise” over Letby’s convictions had caused “enormous additional distress to the parents who have already suffered far too much”.

A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children involved in the case.

The hearing is due to begin at 10.30am in Court 4 of the Royal Courts of Justice.