Child serial killer Lucy Letby has lost a Court of Appeal bid to challenge her conviction for the attempted murder of a baby girl.
Letby’s lawyers asked senior judges for approval to appeal against her most recent conviction after the former neonatal nurse was found guilty – following a retrial in July – of attempting to kill a newborn known as Child K.
On Thursday, lawyers for the 34-year-old told the Court of Appeal that the attempted murder charge should have been “stayed” as an “abuse of process” due to “overwhelming and irremediable prejudice” caused by media coverage of her first trial, and that the retrial should not have gone ahead.
But three senior judges dismissed Letby’s bid following the hearing in London.
Lord Justice William Davis, sitting with Lord Justice Jeremy Baker and Mrs Justice McGowan, said at the start of their ruling that they would “refuse permission” for Letby to challenge the conviction.
Letby was sentenced in August 2023 to 14 whole life orders for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others, with two attempts on one child, and was sentenced in July to a 15th whole life term for the attack on Child K.
Thursday’s ruling marks Letby’s second appeal bid to be thrown out, after the Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge against her first set of convictions in May.
Benjamin Myers KC, for Letby, told the court in London on Thursday that the retrial over the summer was “an exceptional case, with exceptional media interest, and therefore exceptional unfairness is capable of arising, notwithstanding the safeguards that are often employed.”
He added: “We are dealing with the impact of media coverage and public comment arising from the first trial, upon the second.”
The attorney said that media coverage before the retrial was “saturated with unadulterated vitriol towards Ms Letby” and that “the media coverage following trial one, particularly in the immediate aftermath” included “highly prejudicial and emotive public comment by police officers in charge of the investigation” while a retrial was still under consideration.
Letby, who watched the hearing via a video link from HMP Bronzefield wearing a green dress, showed no reaction as the judges gave their ruling.
Her offences took place at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit, where she worked as a nurse, between June 2015 and June 2016.
Following Letby’s 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.
At July’s retrial, jurors were told Letby targeted the “very premature” baby girl during a night shift at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the early hours of 17 February 2016.
The court heard that the former neonatal nurse dislodged Child K’s breathing tube after she was moved from the delivery room to the intensive care unit, and that she was caught “virtually red-handed” by her colleague, consultant paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram, who intervened and resuscitated the infant after entering the nursery.
After being transferred to a specialist hospital later that day due to her extreme prematurity, Child K died three days later.
Letby said during the retrial that she had no recollection of the event as described by her colleague and told the court she did not accept it had taken place, saying “I’m innocent” as she was taken away from the dock.
At her sentencing, Mr Justice Goss called the attack “another shocking act of calculated callous cruelty.”
It comes as a public inquiry chaired by judge Lady Justice Thirlwall continues at Liverpool Town Hall. The inquiry, which began in September, is examining the events surrounding Letby’s crimes and is due to finish hearings in early 2025 with the findings expected to be published late next autumn.
