Lucy Letby launches new bid to challenge her convictions

Lucy Letby has launched a fresh bid to challenge her convictions for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others.

Lawyers representing Letby,  Britain’s worst baby serial killer, are asking senior judges for permission to bring an appeal against all her convictions at a hearing in London, expected to finish this week.

The former NHS nurse is serving 14 whole-life prison terms after being found guilty of the offences following a 10-month trial at Manchester Crown Court last year.

Letby, 34, had an initial application to take forward her challenge refused by a single judge without a hearing in January. However, she is able to renew her efforts before a panel of three judges at the hearing in London.

The details of her bid to overturn the offences, committed while she was working as neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester hospital, cannot currently be reported for legal reasons.

However, at the outset of Monday’s hearing at the Court of Appeal, Dame Victoria Sharp said it could be reported that Letby was attempting to challenge her convictions on four grounds, which involve arguments that the judge at her trial wrongly refused legal applications made during her trial.

If the panel of three judges declines to give the go-ahead for the challenge, it is likely to be the end of the appeal process for Letby.

Nick Johnson KC is appearing on behalf of the prosecution, and Benjamin Myers KC represented Letby at the appeal court hearing, which is also due to sit on Tuesday and Thursday.

The jury in Letby’s trial at Manchester Crown Court was unable to reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five children.

Separately to the appeal, she will face a retrial at the same court in June on a single count that she attempted to murder a baby girl, known as Child K, in February 2016.

A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children who were the subject of the allegations.