Lucy Letby loses her appeal against murder and attempted murder convictions

Lucy Letby has been refused permission to appeal against her convictions for the murder and attempted murder of babies in her care.

On Friday, a panel of three of England’s most senior judges at the Court of Appeal in London rejected her application to appeal.

The 34-year-old former nurse was handed 14 whole life terms last year after being found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder a further six at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.

Shortly after her trial ended at Manchester Crown Court in August, Letby applied for leave to appeal against her convictions.

She lost the first stage of the process, in which a single judge reviewed her arguments as a paper exercise.

Letby, originally of Hereford, went to the second stage, in which she renewed her application before a panel of judges at a hearing at the Court of Appeal.

Three appeal court judges – Lady Justice Sharp, Lord Justice Holroyde and Lady Justice Lambert – heard Letby’s request for permission to mount a full legal challenge over her convictions during a three-day hearing last month.

Re-trial on one charge due for June

Benjamin Myers KC, Letby’s barrister, put forward four grounds of appeal, arguing that the judge at her trial wrongly refused applications that her legal team made during the trial, which lasted for 10 months.

Handing down the judge’s ruling, Dame Victoria Sharp, the president of the King’s Bench Division, stated: “This court, having heard her application, has decided to refuse leave to appeal on all grounds and refused all associated applications. A full judgment will be handed down in due course.”

Separately to the appeal, Letby is due to be re-tried on on a single charge that she attempted to murder a baby girl, known as Child K, in February 2016.

That re-trial is due to commence in June.

As a result, to avoid prejudice, the media will not be allowed to report the full details of the appeal hearing and the judges’ decision at this stage.

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

A public inquiry into events at the Countess of Chester Hospital is also planned, with its first hearings expected in the autumn.

Lady Justice Thirlwall, a senior Court of Appeal judge, was appointed by the Health Secretary in September to chair the inquiry.