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Detectives have handed the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) fresh evidence that they say shows former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby killed or harmed additional infants. The material, which covers more than half a dozen cases at both the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital, is now under review by prosecutors.
The development follows Monday’s arrests of three former senior managers from the Countess of Chester on suspicion of gross‑negligence manslaughter; all were later released on bail. Letby, 35, is already serving 15 whole‑life sentences for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others between 2015 and 2016, but she is trying to overturn those convictions through the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) after losing two appeals.
Scrutiny of Letby’s convictions intensified earlier this year when an international panel of specialists said it could find no evidence of criminal wrongdoing after examining medical records and related documents. Even so, Cheshire Constabulary continues three live inquiries: one into Letby herself, one into hospital managers, and one into possible corporate manslaughter by the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust.
Confirming receipt of the new case file, the CPS said it would decide independently—applying its standard legal test—whether extra charges should be brought. Any prosecution would need the personal approval of Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson and could also require sign‑off from the attorney general, Richard Hermer KC.
Meanwhile, the CCRC is poring over extensive expert reports that Letby’s new counsel, Mark McDonald KC, describes as “overwhelming” proof of her innocence. Conservative MP Sir David Davis has called the case “one of the great miscarriages of justice of our time.” Lawyers for the bereaved families disagree, branding the fresh evidence outdated and flawed: Peter Skelton KC said it rests on “fragile towers of speculation,” while Richard Baker KC argued there is “nothing remarkable or new” in the material and lamented that grieving parents have been relegated to “a sideshow in a ghoulish media circus.”
