Lucy Letby

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Lucy Letby
Letby following her arrest in 2020
Born	(1990-01-04) 4 January 1990 (age 34) Hereford, Herefordshire, England
Occupation	Neonatal nurse
Conviction(s)	Murder (7 counts), attempted murder (8 counts)
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment (whole life order)
Details
Span of crimes	2015–2016
Country	United Kingdom
Killed	7
Injured	7
Date apprehended	3 July 2018
Imprisoned at	HM Prison Bronzefield as of January 2024[update]

Lucy Letby (born 4 January 1990) is a British former neonatal nurse who murdered seven infants and attempted the murder of seven others between June 2015 and June 2016.^[1] Letby attracted suspicion following a high number of infant deaths which occurred at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital shortly after she began working with children in the hospital's intensive care unit.

Letby was charged in November 2020 with eight counts of murder and ten counts of attempted murder. Letby pleaded not guilty, and told a subsequent Nursing and Midwifery Council disciplinary panel that she is innocent. Her methods, revealed during the course of her ten-month trial from October 2022 and August 2023, included injecting the infants with air or insulin, overfeeding them, and physically abusing them with medical tools. Letby accepted at trial that some victims had been injected with insulin, but blamed others. She also removed over 250 confidential nursing handover sheets from her workplace, and falsified patient records to avert suspicion. On 21 August 2023, Letby was sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order. In July 2024 she was further convicted of attempting to murder another child at the hospital, after the jury at her original trial failed to reach a verdict on the charge.

An application to appeal her conviction was refused by the Court of Appeal in April 2024.

Letby is the most prolific serial child killer in modern British history; the Cheshire Constabulary now suspects that she may have claimed more victims, including at Liverpool Women's Hospital, where two infants died during her training. Management at the Countess of Chester Hospital were criticised for ignoring warnings about Letby that could have prevented some of the killings. The British government has commissioned an independent statutory inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the murders.