Serial killer nurse Lucy Letby is to face a retrial on a charge of attempting to murder a baby girl after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
Letby, 33, was given a whole life order after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016.
But the jury in her trial at Manchester Crown Court was unable to reach verdicts last month on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five children.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Monday it would pursue a retrial on one of the outstanding charges—the attempted murder of Child K, a girl, in February 2016.
Letby faces trial at the same court on June 10, 2024 at the same court but the trial will last around three weeks, compared to the 11 months it took the first trial.
Letby attended a hearing by video link from a conference room at New Hall prison in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Sitting behind a desk, she spoke only to confirm her name and confirmed she could see and hear the proceedings.
Prosecutor Nicholas Johnson, KC, confirmed the Crown wished to pursue a retrial on the single count but not the other five outstanding allegations.
A jury of seven women and four men could not reach verdicts on claims she attempted to murder three baby girls, Child H, Child J and Child K, and two boys, Child N and Child Q. She was found guilty of one count of attempted murder against Child N.
A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children.
Families Lawyers’ ‘Disappointed’
Tamlin Bolton, of law firm Switalskis, which represents seven families, said, “We are disappointed with the CPS decision to not proceed with a retrial on all of the cases.”“We believe that the families of the further alleged victims still have questions that are unanswered and they deserve to know what happened to their children. On the back of the CPS decision, those families will need to pursue other channels to get the answers,” she added.
Jonathan Storer, chief crown prosecutor at CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said, “These decisions on whether to seek retrials on the remaining counts of attempted murder were extremely complex and difficult.”
He said, “Before reaching our conclusions, we listened carefully to the views of the families affected, police and prosecution counsel.”
“Many competing factors were considered including the evidence heard by the court during the long trial and its impact on our legal test for proceeding with a prosecution. We have met with all the families affected by these decisions to explain how they were reached,” added Mr. Storer.
