Britain’s most prolific child killer Lucy Letby has lost a bid to appeal her latest conviction for the attempted murder of a baby girl.
Lawyers for the former neonatal nurse argued her retrial for trying to kill a newborn known as Child K should not have gone ahead due to “overwhelming and irremediable prejudice” caused by media coverage of her other crimes.
However, three senior judges swiftly dismissed the bid in a Court of Appeal hearing on Thursday, ruling the trial judge was right when he concluded she would have a fair second trial.
The 34-year-old was previously sentenced to 14 whole life orders for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others, with two attempts on one child, when she was working at the Countess of Chester Hospital. A bid to appeal against those convictions was dismissed in May.
Following her 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 in July. She was handed her 15th whole life order for the crime.
Benjamin Myers KC, for Letby, told the Court of Appeal that the charge should have been “stayed” as an “abuse of process” due to “overwhelming and irremediable prejudice” caused by media coverage of her first trial.
He said: “The learned judge was wrong to reject the application made by the defence at the outset of the trial to stay the indictment as an abuse of process.”
He continued: “It is 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.”
Mr Myers said that media coverage before the retrial was “saturated with unadulterated vitriol towards Ms Letby”.
Her lawyers did not argue that the conviction was unsafe because the former nurse maintains her innocence.
However, the bid was swiftly rejected by Lord Justice William Davis, sitting with Lord Justice Jeremy Baker and Ms Justice McGowan, who said they would “refuse permission” for Letby to challenge the conviction.
In a ruling briefly interrupted by a fire alarm inside the Royal Courts of Justice, Lord Justice Davis said: “We conclude that the judge was right to find that Letby would be able to have a fair trial.”
He said the trial was a matter of “national public interest” and following her convictions the media reaction was “bound to be hostile and can hardly be otherwise”.
“The notion that after a substantial criminal trial that police officers should not speak to the media is fanciful,” he added.
Letby, formerly of Hereford, showed no reaction as she watched the hearing via a video link from HMP Bronzefield wearing a green dress.
In the retrial, jurors were told that Letby targeted the “very premature” infant during a night shift in the early hours of 17 February 2016 by dislodging Child K’s breathing tube.
The court heard that she was caught “virtually red-handed” by a colleague, consultant paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram, as he entered Nursery 1 at about 3.45am, who intervened and resuscitated Child K.
Dr Jayaram told jurors he saw “no evidence” that she had done anything to help the stricken infant when he walked in and saw her standing next to the incubator, but Letby insisted she had no recollection of the incident.
Child K was transferred, as planned, to a specialist hospital later on 17 February because of her extreme prematurity and died there three days later.
The sentencing judge, Mr Justice Goss, said that Child K was “exceptionally vulnerable” and that the attack was “another shocking act of calculated callous cruelty”.
However, Letby said “I’m innocent” as dock officers led her away.
The Crown Prosecution Service had opposed her “misguided” appeal bid, with Nick Johnson KC stating in written submissions that the jury found Letby to be a “multiple killer and habitual liar”.
Letby’s barrister, Mark McDonald, previously told the BBC that he planned to apply to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to review her case. The CCRC investigates potential miscarriages of justice and can refer cases back to the Court of Appeal for consideration.
Meanwhile, a public inquiry into the events surrounding Letby’s crimes, chaired by Judge Lady Justice Thirlwall, continues at Liverpool Town Hall after beginning last month.
