Three former bosses of killer nurse Letby arrested

Jonny HumphriesBBC News, Liverpool

Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more

BBC Lucy Letby smiles for the camera in a photo taken early in her career. She has long blonde hair in a ponytail and is standing in a hospital ward. — Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more

Three former senior staff at the hospital where nurse Lucy Letby murdered seven babies and attempted to kill seven others have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

All three suspects worked on the senior leadership team at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016 and were bailed after being questioned on Monday.

The arrests came after an investigation into potential corporate manslaughter at the hospital was opened in 2023, and then widened in March this year to include gross negligence manslaughter.

Cheshire Police said the case does not have any impact on Letby’s 2023 convictions for murder and attempted murder.

Letby, 35, is serving 15 whole life prison sentences after targeting babies at the hospital’s neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016.

Det Supt Paul Hughes said the corporate manslaughter element of the investigation focused on the senior leadership of the hospital and its decision-making, “to determine whether any criminality has taken place concerning the response to the increased levels of fatalities”.

He said gross negligence manslaughter was a separate offence and “focuses on the grossly negligent action or inaction of individuals”.

A separate investigation was launched into the senior leadership of the hospital in 2023 after Letby was found guilty

PA Media A woman and her young daughter, wearing a pink coat, outside a hospital building walking towards a set of blue doors under a sign reading "Women & Children's Building - Maternity Emergencies". — A separate investigation was launched into the senior leadership of the hospital in 2023 after Letby was found guilty

Cheshire Police said it is also carrying out a separate investigation into deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies in Chester and in the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where Letby trained for periods, going back to 2012.

Det Supt Hughes said there were “no set timescales” for the manslaughter investigations.

Letby has maintained her innocence and her barrister, Mark McDonald, submitted an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) earlier this year.

The application included the findings of 14 medical experts who agreed to re-examine the evidence heard at trial and concluded Letby had not harmed any babies.

The CCRC, which has the power to refer cases back to the Court of Appeal, said it is reviewing the application and could give no timescale on when a decision would be reached.

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