British nurse Lucy Letby loses appeal over attempted child murder conviction

LONDON– British nurse Lucy Letby lost her attempt to challenge her conviction for the attempted murder of a little girl in her care on Thursday.

Letby, 34, is serving multiple life sentences with no chance of release after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others while working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between June 2015 and June 2016 .

Her lawyer argued that her July retrial on charges of attempted murder of a child identified in court as Child K should not have taken place in February 2016 because it was overshadowed by “overwhelming and irremediable bias” in the coverage of her first trial in 2023 .

The retrial took place after a jury at Manchester Crown Court failed to reach a verdict on the charges against Child K.

Letby, who said she never harmed a child, continues to maintain her innocence. She watched the hearing via video feed from prison and showed no emotion as the judges rejected her appeal.

The court issued a similar decision in May when she sought to appeal her multiple previous convictions.

The ruling comes as an investigation is underway into whether the hospital failed to identify why babies were dying in the neonatal unit and stop Letby earlier.