Lucy Letby convictions appeal bid to be heard by judges in April

Child serial killer Lucy Letby will have her bid to challenge her convictions considered by judges at a hearing in April.

Lawyers for Letby will ask senior Court of Appeal judges for permission to bring an appeal against all her convictions.

The hearing has been provisionally listed for 25 April, a judiciary spokeswoman has confirmed.

The nurse, 34, had an initial application to take forward her challenge refused by a single judge without a hearing in January.

But she is able to renew her efforts before a panel of three judges at the hearing in nine weeks time.

If judges again decline to give permission, it will mark the end of the appeal process for Letby.

If she does receive permission, then the appeal will be heard at a separate hearing at a later date.

In August 2023, Letby, of Hereford, was sentenced to 14 whole life orders after she was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others, with two attempts on one of her victims.

The offences took place at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit, where Letby worked as a nurse, between June 2015 and June 2016.

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.

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.

How did Lucy Letby manage to slip under the radar for so long, carrying out her attacks unchallenged for a year at the Countess of Chester Hospital? We take a look in this episode of From the North.