Lucy Letby case: what happens now?

It was the most heinous of crimes. Nurse Lucy Letby was found guilty of seven murders and seven attempted murders of babies under her care in a neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where she worked from January 2012 until July 2016.1

Letby was removed from the unit after the death of triplets capped off a torrid year for the ward, during which several babies were harmed, many of them dying in unexplained circumstances. Police began investigating the deaths in May 2017 at the behest of hospital authorities,2 and Letby was arrested at her home in July 2018 in connection with the deaths.

The nurse was charged with 22 offences in total and was convicted of many of them in August 2023 (box 1).3 “You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies and in gross breach of the trust that all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions,” said High Court judge James Goss, when handing Letby 14 whole life sentences for her crimes.4 He added, “There was a deep malevolence bordering on sadism in your actions.” (Letby would later be convicted of a further, 15th crime, in July 2024 after a retrial.5)