Convicted serial killer Lucy Letby’s bid to challenge her latest conviction for the attempted murder of a baby girl has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Lawyers for the former nurse asked three senior judges if she could appeal against the conviction in July for attempting to kill a newborn, known as Child K, which followed a retrial.
Letby, 34, had already been found guilty of murdering seven babies and the attempted murder of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
Her lawyers had argued her re-trial was unfair because the jury were prejudiced by the media coverage from the original trial – which ended in August 2023.
Letby, who is serving 15 whole-life terms in jail, has already had an appeal against her other 14 convictions thrown out by the Court of Appeal.
A public inquiry into how she was able to commit her crimes is ongoing at Liverpool Town Hall.
‘Unadulterated vitriol’
At the Court of Appeal earlier, Benjamin Myers KC, representing Letby, had told the court her original trial in 2023 covered an “exceptional case with exceptional media interest”, which could lead to “exceptional unfairness”.
“We are dealing with the impact of media coverage and public comment arising from the first trial, upon the second,” he added.
Mr Myers KC told the judges that while media reporting of Letby’s first 14 convictions had been accurate, the accumulative effect of the stories and the comment that followed led to “unadulterated vitriol”.
This meant her retrial should have been “stayed as an abuse of process”, the legal term for a trial that is so damaged by unfairness that it should be stopped, due to “overwhelming and irremediable prejudice” after the first trial.
He pointed in particular to “emotive” comments made to the media by police officers involved in the investigation into Letby’s crimes.
However Nick Johnson KC, who prosecuted the original trial, said in written submissions that the defence application was “misguided” and the jury had found Letby to be a “multiple killer and habitual liar”.
‘Fair trial’
Mr Johnson added: “What was said by police in the aftermath of the convictions in the first trial was reasonable and it accurately and moderately described the horrendous offences (for) which this applicant had been convicted.”
Lord Justice William Davis, sitting with Lord Justice Jeremy Baker and Mrs Justice McGowan, said at the start of their ruling 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, he said the Court of Appeal had to take into account the “unrivalled” experience of the judge in charge of both trials and the steps he took to ensure the second prosecution was fair.
Lord Justice Davis said: “We conclude that the judge was right to find that Letby would be able to have a fair trial.”
He added the suggestion police should not have spoken about the case was “fanciful”.
The former nurse appeared on a video link from HMP Bronzefield. Looking very tired and drawn, and wearing a green wraparound top, she sat impassively through the two hours of submissions.
When the judges dismissed her application she showed no emotion or outward recognition of the ruling.
As the court clerk told Letby the hearing was concluding and the video link would be closed, she quietly replied: “Ok”.
She had previously been sentenced to 14 whole life orders for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others, with two attempts on one child, and was sentenced to a 15th whole life term for the attack on Child K.
Child K was attacked in February 2016, halfway through Letby’s 13-month spell of offending, her retrial was told.
The jury found Letby had dislodged a breathing tube from the baby 90 minutes after she had been born.
The neonatal nurse was then said to have stood over her cot, “doing nothing”.
The victim was stabilised, however, because a doctor walked in on the scene, the retrial heard.
Consultant paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram said he had seen no evidence that Letby had been trying to help the child and that the automatic breathing alarm had been switched off.
Letby said said she had no recollection of the incident.
Child K was later transferred to another hospital and died three days later of complications relating to her birth, unrelated to Letby’s attack.
Letby’s legal team has previously told the BBC that it plans to ask 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.
Additional reporting by PA Media.